Draw With Silver, Bleed With Red - (Previously When I Fall)
by Sora Kalopsia
Summary: (Previously When I Fall). Take a pill, make a scar. Don't forget who you are. When one gunshot could end it all, who knows how far the rest will fall? So grab your rope or gun or knife. It's not that hard to end your life. Six little children and how they grew, but no one really ever knew. Though some see black and some see red, but it doesn't matter if you're dead. [SYOC CLOSED]
1. Roses and Violets

Roses are red, violets are blue

Sugar is sweet, and perhaps you were too

But the roses have wilted, the violets are dead

The sugar bowl's empty, your gun to your head

The sun isn't shining, the sky isn't clear

There's no silver lining because you're not here

Rain keeps on pouring, there's no end in sight

You're lying there frozen, so far from the light

Your beauty's unreal, your smile the sun

But time can't be turned nor your actions undone

The words that you wrote that only I read,

"I love you so much; please don't cry when I'm dead."

A bond that we formed, a love that ran deep

A pain that we shared, a friend I could keep

I wanted to hold you, wipe tears from your eyes;

To be there the moment you said your goodbye

I want to forget, but most times I don't

I want to let go, but I know that I won't

Tears on my face, memories burned in my head

The roses have wilted, the roses are dead.

-Unknown Author

* * *

 _"Alexander?" The Queen called, rapping her knuckles on the Crown Prince's bedroom door. She held a stack of paperwork cradled in her left arm and knocked with her right. There was no answer from within. Strange, but not a completely unusual occurrence. Prince Alex was often so lost in thought that he didn't hear his mother knock._

 _She entered the door, expecting to find her brown haired son staring at the wall or reading a book. She didn't expect the gun on the bed or the note on the desk. She didn't expect the red stain on the bed. And she didn't expect the hole in his head._

 _The Queen screamed and screamed, and ran to his side. But it was too late for him. As she called his name over and over, he was moving farther and farther into the sky. He was gone from the world, which he had despised. Alex had never shared with her the fear that was inside._

 _Now he was gone, with one pull of a trigger. The maid that had heard the Queen rushed to her side and fainted. The butler who had been walking down the hall, showed more self restraint. He searched the room for any signs of a struggle or a rebel. But of course, there was none. Alex had simply chosen his time. It had been a willing death._

 _The couriers had taken the body away when they found the note that Alex had left for them. The Queen's fingers trembled as she read what he'd wrote._

 _It was only a sentence. Just one phrase, nothing more._

 _"I couldn't hold on anymore."_

* * *

From the outside of the palace, from someone looking in, there might not have appeared to be any change. The weather was growing colder and colder as they approached the Autumn months, and rain was starting to drizzle down onto the perfectly kept lawn. The same, ornate, golden gates were locked to keep out potential threats of rebels or terrorists. The sun rose and fell, just as it always had, and each night the moon and stars revealed themselves, shining brightly in case people had forgotten their existence in the twelve hours they had vanished in.

But, if one were to enter the palace, to pass through the gates that kept the prestige and honor of the Royal family in tact, one would find that time seemed to be stopped. Frozen in fear, as if the death had rendered its job impossible as well. And although the clocks ticked off seconds of each day, the members of the palace ignored it. To them, it was like the death had killed them all. That the palace was no longer filled with oxygen, but water, and that they were slowly drowning in the weight of their grief.

The rain that fell down matched the mood inside the palace. All the staff worked with red eyes, and it was not infrequent to pass someone wiping away tears into his or her handkerchief. The mood was dismal. The halls that once were full of laughter now housed only pain and despair.

The playroom seemed an odd place to seek solace in these difficult times, but all 5 remaining Royal children were inside, silently mourning the loss of their brother in black. The two older girls had veils over their faces, as if they were trying to block out the pain. There was no sound in the room. Even the youngest, who was only 5, knew better not to speak. They were all lost in thoughts and all four of the older children, even though the King and Queen had tried to hide it, knew the truth.

They knew how there had been no rebel attack, like the Report had said. They knew that Alex had taken his own life, not someone taking it for him. Most of all, they knew he was gone, and he was never coming back.

The four of them had tried their best to hide it from Courtney, the youngest. They didn't know if she knew or not, but they didn't want to be the ones to tell her.

The child, however, was the first one to speak. "Per-y?" She asked her second-oldest, and now oldest, sibling in an innocent voice.

Percy, who hadn't spoken to anyone in the day and a half after he'd found out about his twin's death, looked at his baby sister, with her fluffy, golden curls plastered against her face. In the faint light in the dark room, she looked like and angel. She held out her arms and he lifted her into his lap, holding her against his chest. Her blue eyes met his brown ones. "What, baby?" he asked, voice hoarse from the lack of talking and the amount of his tears.

As he spoke, his oldest sister, Callie, looked at him with eyes wet with tears. Aria, who was fourtrem, was asleep on her lap, eyes red and swollen. His younger brother, Aiden, was gazing determinedly out the window, attempting to lose himself from the conversation that was starting.

"When's Alex coming back?" Courtney asked, staring up at her older brother intently. Callie turned away, unable to bare it anymore. Percy, for his part, worked hard to keep the tears out of his eyes.

He rocked her back and forth in his lap, slowly. "He's not, baby. He's gone."

That was not a good enough answer for her, apparently. She and Alex had been close, though not as close as she was with his twin, Percy. "But, Per-y." she asked again. "Where's he gone to? Is he on a vacation?"

"No, Court. He's not on a vacation. He's just gone, and he's never coming back." Percy blinked hard. He didn't want to show his other siblings weakness. He was the oldest, now, anyway.

"Why'd he go, Per-y? Why'd Alex go?" she asked, her blue eyes big and wide.

He could see tears falling out of Callie's face streaked with tears as he answered. "Honey, I don't know. Sometimes people just leave you, and you don't know why." At this, a tear slipped down his cheek.

Courtney started to cry, because she say her two older siblings crying. "Why'd he leave, Per-y. Didn't he love me?"

Percy held her tighter and stroked her hair. "Of course he loved you, sweetheart. Baby, listen he me." he cupped her chin with her hand. "I guess Heaven just needed a hero, ok, and Alex was the right man to do the job. But I promise you, every day he's watching you and seeing you grow."

She sniffed and put her thumb in her mouth, but she stopped crying. "Who's gonna play dollies with me or read me stories at bedtime?"

"I will," Percy told her. "Or Callie or Aria or Aiden."

On the other side of the room, Aiden snorted and turned his head even farther away. Callie turned and glared at him, startling Aria awake. "What's wrong?" the younger sister asked, blinking sleep away from her brown eyes.

Callie didn't stop glaring at her younger brother. "Aiden, being his normal self."

Aiden turned and glared back around. "At least I'm concerned about my actual brother being dead! He left us! He committed suicide! And no one here thinks that's selfish of him."

"Adien!" Percy chided, hugging Courtney closer as she started to cry again at the shouting. "Control yourself."

The boy leaped to his feet and flew over to Percy. "NO! I won't! All my life I've been told, look up to Alexander. Be more like Alex. Alex never did this or that. And now look. Look who couldn't tough it out and take it like a man. Look who's gone. Look who shot himself in the head and couldn't handle life's problems." He took a deep breath and stared down Percy. "And I'm still here."

Aria stood up and ran over to him, pushing Aiden down to the ground and punching him in the eye. "You know that's a lie! It's all a lie! He did love us. He did." She sat on his chest and started pulling his collar, pulling his shirt tighter and tighter while beneath her, Aiden's face turned blue.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Courtney screamed, putting her hands over her ears to block out the yelling. Aiden knocked Aria off himself and grabbed the child on Percy's lap, picking her up and shaking her.

"You don't care he's gone. You just care about who's going to play with you, you spoiled little brat!" Aiden screamed, dropping Courtney to the ground and kicking out at her, thankfully missing her head by an inch.

Percy pushed Aiden across the room as Courtney grabbed onto his knee and continued to sob. "Aiden, she's just a child. She doesn't even know what happened."

The younger boy leered at his siblings. "Well, she's going to find out soon enough. She's going to need to know that the 'perfect' child blew his brains out all over the floor. That he was too much of a coward to even say goodbye."

Courtney was screaming and yelling harder now, crying big, huge tears all over the floor. Aiden was screaming too, profanity and insults about his brother before Aria tackled him again and socked him in the mouth, knocking out one of his teeth. Percy tried desperately to break the two of them up, but it was no use. After that, he picked up his baby sister and carried her back to her room, stroking her hair and reading to her until she fell asleep for her nap. Callie fled from the room, shortly after, eyes as wide as a dear's caught in a headlight.

No one came to break up Aria and Aiden's fighting until eventually Aiden got free and ran. No one saw Aria chasing after him, pounding on his locked bedroom door and yelling that if he wanted to prove himself better than Alex, he'd come out and fight. No one saw Aiden take a permanent marker and write all sorts of creative cuss words describing his siblings in big letters on the walls of his room. No one saw Callie take the knife she held up and slice another gash into the scars already on her wrists. No one saw Percy crying in his room, shouting his brother's name over and over again.

For the Queen had locked herself in her room, and the King was in another meeting about the Selection, which would now be Percy's to undertake.

And because of this, no one saw anything at all.

* * *

 **Hi everyone! I'm Sora. Sorry, that was kind of a dismal beginning, but I had the idea and my imagination just ran with it.**

 **So, in this chapter, there's kind of a lot of hinted at themes that I didn't really want to make super apparent or gruesome in the writing. Basically, the Crown Prince Alexander, Percy's twin brother, committed suicide unexpectedly. This has never happened to the Royal Family before, so it's very hushed up.**

 **However, as was mentioned in the chapter, the Selection forms for Alexander were already sent out. This was kind of a major problem for the Royal family, on top of everything else. Obviously, Alex can't have a Selection because he's dead. But, luckily, he has a twin brother who, because of the death, takes over Alex's spot as Crown Prince, meaning, he takes over the Selection too.**

 **So, instead of being able to grieve normally, Percy has to deal with 21 freaking girls coming to woo him. I decided to narrow it down to only 21 girls to honor Alex, who died 7 days after his and Alex's 21st birthday.**

 **In this chapter, you see a lot of the Royal kids' views on suicide. It's kind of split. This was done on purpose. As the story progresses, we're going to see a lot of the time that even though he was really the quiet one of the family, Alex was the peacekeeper, too.**

 **So, this is an SYOC, and I'm taking 21 girls. If I get more, I'm sorry, but some characters just aren't going to make it. If I get less, I'll fill it with random names that get eliminated first.**

 **So yeah! Submit! The form and rules are below, as well as on my profile. Thanks guys!**

 **Rules:**

1\. Submissions are only allowed through Private Message, please!

2\. Be through and fill out the entire form. The more detailed and the more PMs taken up, the more likely your character will be accepted.

3\. No Mary-Sues, carbon-copies of America or any other characters, or perfect characters.

4\. This is not first come, first serve. I will be choosing characters depending on who work well with the way I envision this story going.

5\. Please be unique! I love seeing your characters, and I really don't want all of them to be "sweet" and "shy". Sure, maybe one or two, but who wants to read a story with no bubbly or sassy girls?

 **That's really about it. The form is below. Please fill it out ALL the way! Thank you!**

Full Name:

Nickname:

Age:

Caste:

Occupation:

Province (be aware I may have to change it):

General Appearance (be detailed, include hair, eyes, facial features, EVERYTHING):

Height:

Weight:

Personality (full sentences, please, and at least a paragraph!):

Strengths/Weaknesses:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Fears:

Hobbies/Talents:

Background/Backstory:

Family (ages, appearances, personality, relation with Selected):

Friends (same as family):

Past Relationships (if any):

Reason For Entering:

Thoughts on the King and Queen:

Thoughts on Alex's Death (remember, it's been called a "rebel attack" but not hidden very well):

Thoughts on Prince Alexander (the person he was):

Thoughts on Prince Perseus (Percy):

Thoughts on Princess Callisa (Callie- 17):

Thoughts on Princess Aria (14) and Prince Aiden (11):

Thoughts on Princess Courtney (5, almost 6):

Maids (Create 3, please, and only 3):

 **I'm sorry it's kind of long. Feel free to split it into multiple PMs. Below is some info on the Royal Family that might help you answer the form.**

Prince Alexander (21/Deceased)\- Percy's older twin and used to be the Crown Prince, before he committed suicide 7 days after his and Percy's 21st birthday. He was the quieter twin, but all of his family and Illeá loved him. He would have been the perfect King. He was the peacekeeper between all of the six Royal children, as well as being the oldest. His death is what starts everything on a downhill slope.

Prince Perseus (21)\- Alex's younger twin, and the one most affected by his twin's death. Although a sweet, caring person, Percy has no idea how to be king or how to deal with the 21 girls that are going to invade his home. Although he was close with his twin brother as an identical twin, he is closest with his youngest sister, Courtney.

Princess Callisa (17)\- Callisa, or Callie as she prefers, is the studious one. She's very sweet and thoughtful, but also very shy. She doesn't really like attention, and she's definitely scared of the spotlight. She speaks fluent French, German, and Spanish, and she's engaged to the Crown Prince of France, who is 5 years older than her. She and Aria are very close. She's also very depressed inside, though she hides it well, and she feels as if nothing she does matters.

Princess Aria (14)\- Aria is the loud, boisterous one. However, she sinks into herself after the death of her brother. She was always the closest with Alex, out of his female sisters, and she blames herself for not being able to stop his death. The more she thinks about it, the more she herself spirals into a depression, and she locks herself up more and more from the real world and starts to believe in a fantasy world she makes up in her head.

Prince Aiden (10)\- Despite only being 10, Aiden is extremely bright. He has a knack for finding out things he shouldn't. However, he's also the rebel and the troublemaker. He's often the one who starts arguments, and he gets along with least of all of his siblings.

Princess Courtney (5, almost 6)\- The baby of the family, often dubbed "The Baby Angel". She's extremely innocent and loving, and despite her age, doesn't often throw tantrums. She loves to be read to and considers everyone her friends and family. She doesn't really understand why her older brother is gone, but she can feel the change in atmosphere along the palace.

King Stephen and Queen Amanda\- Both the Queen and King were devastated over their son's death, but they have a country to rule and life must go on. The Queen locked herself in her room, and refuses to come out or even open the windows. The King goes on ruling the country, but he gets grayer and more exhausted, and doesn't see his kids as much as he used to.

 **Alright! That's it! I hope to see some great characters! Thank you all, and don't forget to be awesome. Review. Follow. Favorite.**

 **~Sora**


	2. Shatter My Love

Over the next few days, time ticked by normally, as it always would. Seconds passed into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days. In Percy's world, however, time had stopped. It was as if he had was in a dreamland. He was lost without his other half. It was as if he didn't know who he was anymore. Without Alex, there didn't seem to be a good reason to go on.

But life, in general, continued past the palace gates. Most of the provinces had elaborate, touching services to honor Alex. Other, poorer provinces simply placed flowers all over. All over Illeá, people wore black. Gifts and cards had been sent to all of the Royal family. Percy hadn't opened any of them, so far. He didn't need a stranger's words to console him. It wouldn't help, anyway. Out of all his siblings, only Aria had touched the letters. Percy knew his mother had taken the letters written to Courtney, fearing she was too young to handle them. Callie's had piled up on her bed, as most of the time she had fallen asleep on her rocking chair, hands clutched around a book. And he'd seen the fires burning in his younger brother's fire place, fueled with the public's care and his sibling's hate.

As for his letters, the stack on his desk seemed to grow higher every minute, but Percy couldn't bring himself to open it. Right now, the death hadn't truly settled in yet. It was as if he expected his twin to bound around the corridor any second, his hair tousled but his brown eyes twinkling happily. Percy knew that if he opened those letters, the truth would hit him like a ton of bricks. If that happened, he wasn't sure he could go on.

The Prince took his time walking back from breakfast 4 days after his brother's death. Despite the work piling up now that he was going to have a Selection, Percy was in no hurry. If he'd learned anything from that awful day, it was that life would happen, or not, no matter what. There was no use stressing.

He paused at his doorway, hand hovering in the air over the polished, golden doorknob. His room, once his safe haven, had become hell since he'd lost his brother. Everything in there reminded him of Alex. He could picture it perfectly, even with the door closed. The pale blue walls reminded Percy of their shared favorite color. The unopened books on the bookshelf about math, chemistry, and languages that Alex had always gotten him on his birthday, because he'd known that Percy hated them. The old stuffed teddy bear he'd always stolen from his twin at night when he was little, because their mother had taken his away when he'd "accidentally" thrown it at a maid who wouldn't let him eat ice cream when they were 7. The nightlight by the side of his bed that he used every night reminded him that only Alex knew that Percy was still scared of the dark.

With a deep sigh, his hand turned the knob and pushed open the door. There was no use getting lost in his grief. Alex was gone. Simple as that. No form of grieving could bring him back.

The first thing that Percy saw, entering the room, was the letters. Letters that people had written, apologizing for the "rebels" that had killed his brother. Letters that only held empty meaningless words. Letters that, no matter how much they could try to make him feel better, would never succeed. Letters that could never bring Alex back.

In a burst of rage, Percy lunged at the desk, slamming his palm down hard upon the mahogany wood. With his other hand, he slid his arm across the desk and into the stack of envelopes and watched as they all flew off, arching into the sky briefly before tumbling back to the ground. Both elbows on the desk now, he put his head into the palms of his hands, willing himself not to break. It was like his heart had been those letters, in the sky when Alex was with him, but then tumbling down, now he was gone.

There was a faint cough behind him, so soft that Percy nearly missed him. Instead, anger still coursing through him, he turned around and lunged at the person who dared disturb him, grabbing her hands and pinning them over her head to the door.

It was a girl. She was slightly older than him, and shorter, with a petite frame and a small waist. She was in a black day dress and had a black bow tying her auburn hair. Her green eyes widened in surprise as he lunged at her, but she didn't make any moves to defend her self, and those blue irises remained soft. In her hands, she clutched a simple, wooden suitcase.

Recognition flushed across Percy's face and he let go, instantly. The door fell out from under the girl, and she stumbled backwards. The Prince grabbed her arm, gently this time, and kept her on her feet. When she was steady, she gave him a slight, sad smile, and he pulled her into an embrace.

"Ciara." he whispered, holding the girl as if he was falling and she was the only solid thing he could hold on to. "Oh, Ciara."

The girl, for her part was working hard not to cry. She held on as tightly to him as he did to her, and soon, the two of them were on the floor, clinging to each other for dear life. Ciara wasn't sure what to say to him. His loss had been her loss as well, as she had been close to both the boys in her youth. She was in the middle of their and Callie's age, after all, with her 21st birthday coming up in only two and a half weeks. However, back in Ireland, she'd put the party planning on halt to rush to her best friend's side in her time of need.

After a minute of silent hugging, Percy whispered into her ear through her ginger-colored hair. "Ciara, I can't go on any further. I can't do it without him." He gazed into her green eyes that seemed to mirror his loss, the sadness in them so differently from the lively girl he used to know in his youth.

"I know." She whispered back, pressing her face into his chest and closing her eyes, as if being close to him could somehow stop her grief. Although she had always been the closest with Percy, she'd nevertheless grown up with Alex, shared his pain and his happiness, his heartbreaks and his joys. And now, as Percy guessed, she must be sharing his suffering as well.

Percy gently moved her off of him and rose to his feet, eyes boring into the walls without really seeing them. He stuck out his hand automatically for Ciara's, and she pulled herself to her feet with a murmured word of thanks. Not letting go, he stepped into his room, Ciara following behind him.

The letters had added to the mess already beginning in his bedroom. Percy stepped on them to get to his path, with Ciara, in her black kitten heels, picking her way around them so as to not to trip. Both of them sat at the edge of the bed, silent, hands still clasp tight together. The Prince's brown eyes remained staring at the light blue walls, but her's were focused on him. She hadn't seen her best friend in almost 6 months. How much he'd aged in that time. Of course, she'd seen Alex before that, but she realized that Percy knew nothing of that. Despite being her best friend, Percy had been completely oblivious to what had gone on between Alex and her. He had been so much more than Percy was. He was charming, passionate... so seemly full of life.

He had promised her eternity with him.

He had singlehanded shattered her dreams of forever. He had caused her worst nightmare. And he'd never know it. She'd never gotten a chance to tell him she loved him enough.

Alex had promised that one day he'd tell his parents what he'd done. He'd said once he was sure his mother's heart could handle it. When he had made sure that the Selection had passed to Percy, not him, he would come clean.

Their plan was crumbling to pieces before Ciara's eyes. She brought her hands up, pulling out the ring she always wore around her neck, just out of sight, and remembered the day he'd given it to her. Alex had been down on one knee, gazing up at her 18 year old self with his adoring, brown-eyed gaze. She'd said yes, of course. Their young age had never been a concern to them, even if it would have been a concern to his parents. Her parents had been dead too many years to count, and the regents had no control over her life now that she was 18.

They had been so young and in love. Even the minister could see it, when he'd come to marry them at the Irish palace while Alex was "away on a business meeting". They had to work for hours and pay a lot of money to keep it secret, but in the end, her fairytale had come true. She'd walked down the aisle in a beautiful white gown and told him "I do."

How could she have known they could only have had three years of peace. Three years of her sneaking over to Illeá, any chance she got to see her husband. Of course, she loved all the Royal family. She'd even been named Godmother to Courtney. But she trusted Alex enough to know that if he didn't tell them they were married, the time wasn't write.

He'd written to her, a day before he'd taken his life, telling her of the plans. His farewell letter to her was hidden inside a pocket sewn into the inside her dress. She knew that like her ring, she would keep it with her always. Of course, his death would be with him like a whole in her heart, always. She knew she would never remarry. She wished she could have written back to him to stop, or gotten on the first flight to Illeá, but his letter had forbade it. "My love," it had said, "It is better this way. Please, do not try to persuade me out of this. For I know more than you could know about the horror in this world, and I believe, in some way, I have played a role in it. I cannot stay here any longer knowing what I know."

"I will always love you."

Tears had filled her eyes then and presently to, as she stared into Percy's face, so much like her lost love and wondered if she had done the right thing. But of course, there was never away to find out whether she had been wrong or right.

"I will always love you."

Ciara moved her eyes to the wall that Percy was staring at, letting the light blue color envelop her as she slipped her ring back beneath her dress. She wished she could keep her love secret forever. That her three short years with Alex could be a dream, a whisper, a memory for them only. But cradling her arms around her arms around her stomach, she knew it was only a matter of time before the public would find out. Or, at least, some parts of it. She wanted to lie down, her nausea and grief overcoming her. Her doctor had barely let her come. "Your highness, it is too dangerous for you to get on an airplane in your condition." He didn't understand that she'd need to come. Had, had to come.

With the same determinate that she had gotten into the plane, she must show know. She needed to be strong for Percy. She needed to be strong for Italy and Ireland. She needed to be strong for herself and for Alex, who she knew was watching overhead and smiling at her.

Most of all, however, she needed to be strong for the baby.

 **Dang.**

 **That was a little intense.**

 **So, the story of Alex continues. There's going to be quite a lot of the story of Alex in this, obviously, and Percy and his friends uncovering who he truly is. The Selection is obviously the biggest feature, but Ciara has an important role to play in this story, and we'll be seeing a lot more of her.**

 **But, so hey everyone! Thank you all soooo much for all the support this story has gotten! You guys rock! I'm sorry if you guys had too long for this next chapter. I've been on vacation, and then school has been a terrible problem.**

 **Alright, well, I'll wrap this up quick. First, I do have some things for people going to submit characters. NO MORE LOWER CASTES, PLEASE! I am in desperate need for 3s and 4s. 2s I also really need. Maybe one more 5, and NO more 7s and 6s, and I will not accept 8s, I'm sorry.**

 **Alright! That's really it :) I still need more submissions, the provinces for them are on my profile. Remember to be creative!**

 **Thank you all! Remember to review, follow, and favorite.**


	3. Feeling of Whole

The loud footfall of the youngest prince echoed through one of the many identical corridors in the palace. All stretches of hallways looked basically the same, with their cream colored walls and reddish accents, but Aiden knew his way around his home far better than most of the staff and even his siblings. The only one who knew her way around like he did was Aria, but as she was still locked in her room, Aiden knew he would not be interrupted.

Descending down two back staircases and out of one of the kitchen doors, the young boy got his first breath of fresh air since his brother's death. After the suicide, all of the Royal children had been ordered by their father to stay inside and keep out of trouble. Inside the palace held only grief, however, and Aiden was sick of mourning someone who clearly hadn't loved them enough to stay around.

The day outside was cold and bleak, with gray skies and a brisk wind blowing in from the north. Aiden shivered slightly and pulled his coat tighter around his torso as he walked. He was cold in his thin jacket, but that slight inconvenience was not enough to deter him from his plans. Taking care not to be spotted leaving by any of the palace guards, Aiden made the journey down the palace grounds and to his destination, the large palace stables, nestled by the right corner of the estate. Behind the barn, a woods bloomed, the leaves of the trees red and gold in the fall season.

The Prince breathed a sigh of relief once he reached the stable. It was midday and very few people were likely to be around. The morning chores were done and the horses did not need to be fed dinner for a few hours time. Of course, there was bound to be a groom here and there, but they were fairly easy to dodge if you knew how to do so. Aiden was well skilled at that heart.

The nicker of horses made Aiden smile slightly for the first time in this horrible week. Although his siblings often teased him about it, claiming riding was a "girly" sport, he loved horses. His mother shared his love, and when she was not in one of her fits, she often accompanied Aiden on his trail rides.

Silently, he walked down the rows of barn isles, his hand outstretched to stroke the noses of the horses who outstretched their heads to him as he walked past. Arriving at the stall of his horse, Aiden stopped and peered in. The palomino gelding had his back to the Prince and one of his hind hooves was propped up. Aiden could tell he was sleeping and felt bad he was about to wake the horse up, but he was in desperate need of a ride after the week he'd had.

"Hero." he whispered, and one of the horse's ears twitched. Lifting his head slightly, the horse turned and gazed right at Aiden. His brown eyes were soft and kind, as as the Prince stood in front of the stall, his horse came over and thrust his head into the boy's hand. "Hey buddy." he smiled slightly as he rubbed his hand up and down his horses soft face. Hero snorted softly, the air from his nostrils tickling Aiden's hand. He laughed a little and huffed back at the animal.

He unbuckled the gleaming, leather halter from around the stall's rack and pulls the door open enough to slip in and catch his horse. Aiden pushed the door open all the way and led Hero out, the horse following right behind him. Through one barn isle and out the door, the pair managed to get outside without encountering anyone. Once outside, Aiden tied the lead rope to the other side of Hero's halter making makeshift pair of reins. Clambering up onto a barrel of hay, he climbed bareback onto his horse's back. Once he was settled, the Prince dug his heels into Hero's side and aimed for the forest, taking off at a gallop.

The wind whipped through his blond hair and he was even colder now, but he urged Hero farther and farther into the palace. Neither rider nor horse knew where they were going, but they were leaving the palace behind them. Hero ran and ran, Aiden at the reins urging him faster and raising off of his back slightly before each log or branch they jumped. Finally, however, the horse slowed, panting hard for breath. The Prince reached down and gave him a pat on his neck before slowing him down to the walk. "Good boy, Hero." he praised and the gelding gave a snort of pleasure at his touch.

They walked on for a few more minutes, now at least a mile from the palace and deep inside the forest. Aiden stared up at the trees above, all bearing red and yellow leaves. He took a breath of cold, clean air and felt as if he could breath again for the first time since he lost Alex.

It was then he noticed the horse in front of him.

Hero noticed the white horse as well and stopped, shying back from it. Aiden wasn't sure why, particularly, but he was busy looking at the rider on the back of the horse. It wasn't a rebel, as had been his first thought. No one was pointing a gun at his chest. It wasn't his mother either, who would be the only one he could think of to be out on a cold fall day like this.

It was a girl.

She looked to be about his age, maybe a year or so older. Her hair was dark brown, much darker than Aria's, but she vaguely resembled his sister. The girl's face was regal looking and her eyes were wide set in her head. The curls in her hair were the same as in his sister's, but much messier. This girl's were amber, though as opposed to Aria's dark brown ones.

She was beautiful, Aiden thought, staring at the girl on her white horse. And she was. However, she was also dirty and her riding breeches were grimy and covered in mud. Her shirt had a rip in it at the collar and her sleeves were frayed.

So many questions passed through Aiden's mind at once. Who was she? What was she doing here? Would she go out with him? He didn't even know where to start (ok, he decided against the third one, for now), but before he could open his mouth, she turned her horse around and took off at full speed, bolting away from him.

"Hey!" he yelled after her, urging Hero onwards to catch up. "Wait up!"

Hero ran valiantly to catch up to her and the Prince was gaining on the girl when the forest trees thinned and Aiden found himself on the right side of a rushing waterfall. It was rather large, with a fast moving stream running away from him. Before him, the girl urged her horse forward past the stream, but behind her, Hero stepped on a branch. There was a loud snapping sound and the girl's white horse balked sideways, away from the water. With a scream, the girl was thrown over the horse's head and into the river, making a loud splash. Hero, luckily, didn't run but even he back up a bit and flicked his ears back and forth, as if wanting to run. The girl's gray horse did run, however, and in a silver flash, was completely out of sight.

Aiden swung his right leg over his horse's back and dismounted quickly. Praying that Hero would stay still, he ran to the side of the river bank and jumped into the water. His black riding boots kept most of the water out of them, but as he waded farther in, he started to shiver. He didn't really need a cold bath on a cold day, but the girl wasn't swimming. Aiden was afraid she'd broken her neck on the impact with the ground, but she had just seemed to knock herself out. For all he knew she was dangerous to him, but he certainly didn't want her to drown.

The girl, who still out cold, started to sink since she was not awake to swim for herself. Aiden, who was struggling to keep himself afloat in his heavy riding gear, strained against the water, attempting to reach her before she sank all the way under. Finally, after a few seconds of cold water, he finally reached the girl's limp body. "Please be alive!" he whispered, lifting her into his arms and making sure her head was out of the water.

It was slow going, attempting to keep his footing with the current against him and it took him far longer getting back to the shore than it did to jump in. After about a minute, though, Aiden laid the girl down on the soft ground on the bank of the river, and climed out himself, collapsing to his and breathing heavily.

From behind him, the girl started to cough up water. The Prince turned around and saw her sitting up and he breathed a sigh of relief. She seemed ok, besides the cut on the top of her head. She must have scraped it on a rock when she tumbled off.

"Are you ok?" Aiden asked, pushing himself off his knees and to his feet. He held out his hand to help the girl up, but she looked at him warily. At least the water was out of her system, he thought, but she was shaking horribly. The Prince didn't blame her. He was so cold he had to grit his teeth to keep from shivering.

The girl surveyed him warily, as if afraid of him. She didn't speak, but slowly she reached out and took his hand. Like a gentleman, Aiden helped her to her feet before releasing it. There was a moment where both of them didn't move before she realized his hand. The girl spoke for the first time, her amber eyes focused on his. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Aiden said, automatically, manners that had been drilled into him taking over. He cleared his throat, wondering what he should say next. "Uhhh..." he mumbled, giving her a small smile. "I'm Aiden, by the way."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise and she immediately dropped into a low curtsey. "Your highness." she gasped, eyes falling down to his shoes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't recognize you."

"It's ok." Aiden said, continuing to smile. "You were running too fast to notice." he gave a slight chuckle at his joke, but noticed she didn't join in.

The girl ducked her head. "I'm terribly sorry about that."

Aiden shrugged. "It's cool. You didn't know. What's your name?" he asked.

Her eyes still refused to meet his gaze after his reveal of his true identity. "Scarlett. Scarlett Townson, your Majesty."

"That's pretty." he blurted out without thinking and then turned a bright shade of red. Scarlett, true to her namesake, turned the same color as her name. "Oh. Thanks, your Highness."

There was another awkward pause. "You can just call me Aiden, it's ok." he said, gently, hoping to make Scarlett feel more comfortable about him. "Al-" he started to say his oldest brother's name, and then remembered, "Percy's the crown Prince and Callie's next in line. Aria's the outgoing one and everyone loves Courtney. I'm just kind of... me. And, to be honest, I don't feel special at all. I feel like plain old Aiden."

A silent second past before Scarlett suddenly looked up and flashed a slight grin at him. Her amber eyes seemed to light up and dance as she looked at him. "Ok then. Plain Old Aiden it is."

He laughed, the first true laugh he'd had since his brother's death. "I guess I walked into that. So..." he looked around. "Your horse is probably long gone by now."

Scarlett sighed. "Yeah. He probably went back home, or started to."

"Where is home?" Aiden asked, before realizing that might be a personal question. "I mean, why were you in the forest, I guess. Sorry, that sounded awfully personal."

The girl shrugged. "It's ok. I don't mind. I was running away." Aiden's face must have reflected his horror, because she laughed at him. "I know, it seems crazy to you, with a family and a giant palace and a place in life, but me... I have no one. My parents are dead. I lost my older brother long ago when we were orphaned and I haven't seen him since. Wiz was I had left, and now he's gone to." Her voice broke at the end of the sentence and she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, but it did little to help, as it was wet too. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

Aiden's heart broke at the last line. He knew his emotions had been out of whack this week, but he suddenly felt so guilty. Here he was, being a jerk to his siblings, and this girl had lost everything. If he hadn't been afraid to lose face in front of her, he might have started to cry too. Instead, he offered her his hand again. "I lost my older brother too. He's never coming back. But maybe I could you find yours if you came back with me to the palace. We've got extra bedrooms and things. You could stay with us." He blushed again, but didn't take his hand down. He nodded towards Hero who was grazing nearby. "My horse could hold us both."

A confused look crossed her face. "Me? Come back with you?" she took a step back from him, not taking his hand. "Oh no, I couldn't."

"Why not?"

She played with her shirt and her voice was barely a whisper when she spoke. "I'm an eight. I'm not even supposed to see you, let alone live in your house."

Aiden shook his head. "I'm just plain old Aiden, remember. I just happen to live in a big, fancy house full of empty halls and boredom."

Scarlett giggled a bit, but she still seemed unsure as to whether she should take his hand or not. "But... still. A big, fancy house I would be totally out of place in. I," she put her head down again. "I've broken the law, Aiden. I'm a runaway. That's illegal. You should be sentencing me, not inviting me into your house."

"I don't see what's illegal about needing some help. But, fine. I won't make you stay if you don't want to, but please," he gestured at her wet and dirty clothes, "At least let me give you a place to dry off for a while."

Her amber eyes danced again at this, and she took his hand delicately, as if she couldn't believe he was real. "Well. How can a girl say no to that?" she beamed at him and allowed him to escort her to Hero. Aiden, a true gentleman, helped to her up onto Hero before jumping up as well in front of her. He felt her hands lace around his chest to hold on as he urged Hero into a trot and then a canter and for the first time in this horrible week, he felt whole.

 **A/N hey guys! Thank you all so much for the support you've given this story. I'm still open for applicants until next chapter, and I know I haven't gotten back to a lot of PMs but things have been crazy and now I'm super sick so yeah.**

 **Not my best work, but I'm so ill. I wanted to update for you guys.**


	4. Drink It Numb

**Hey guys! What's up? I'm feeling way better now, thank you guys for all your concern! That was so sweet to read. The play I was in is finally over and now I actually have time to write. Time, like, what? I'm forgetting what having free time even is.**

 **But yeah. This isn't the longest chapter, but I hope to have another chapter up at sometime this week, because it's Thanksgiving break and I have the whole week off (SCORE!). Sadly, homework has to been done in some of that time, and I have original books on Wattpad to update to, but I should find time to do another intro chapter at some point.**

 **Since this is the first intro chapter, I only wanted to do one girl, because we've met a lot of new characters in the first three chapters and I wanted to another part focusing on Percy, because despite him being the main character and crown Prince, I really haven't given him a ton of focus.**

 **Also, before I start, this SYOC is now closed! Thank you guys! I have 21 amazing characters and the first of them will be introduced today along with a palace scene.**

 **I think that's it. BTW, the song lyrics I used in the beginning belong to Lindsey Stirling and Lzzy Hale, from their amazing song "Shatter Me", which seemed to fit Percy's feelings involved in this chapter. Riley, the girl introduced, was created by the user Of Darkness and Light.**

 **I tried something different with inter lapping POVs of Percy and Riley, because time passes between each of them, but the same amount of time for each, so they happen simultaneously. I don't know what I think, but it's different and I kind of like it.**

 _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me_

The cork of the bottle popped off easily in Percy's hands. The strong smell that emerged from it was enough to make him light-headed. The Prince held the bottle tentatively, as if instead of alcohol, it contained a demon that might emerge at any moment and destroy him.

If only, he thought bitterly, as he took another sniff of the reddish colored liquid and was almost overcome. He didn't even like wine, if he was being honest with himself. Of course, in Illéa, it was against the law for anyone below 21 to drink, but he'd had the occasional sip of alcohol when he was visiting places like France or England with Alex and his family, where there was no drinking age. However, he'd really only done it to be polite. He shared no love of the substance, although he knew that Ciara enjoyed a glass with dinner, ever since she'd turned 18. That was the custom in Ireland, though.

He remembered that his twin brother hadn't liked the substance anymore than he had. A memory appeared in Percy's mind. They had both been 19, and were in Italy, visiting the monarchy. Both boys had been offered a rich red wine that had been stomped and prepared with the finest grapes in the country. Of course, it would be rude to refuse the Italians, who were such friendly, welcoming people. Both Alex and Percy had chugged the drink down in an effort to avoid tasting it. As it turned out, that had not been the best idea and most of the rest of the night was still fuzzy in Percy's mind.

The memory of his brother was like a stab in the chest and that was enough to cause Percy to take a swig from the bottle. He almost wretched at how strong it was, but he knew it would numb him. That's what he needed. A numbness. No more pain. Percy raised the bottle to his lips again and took another long swig. That gulp wasn't so bad, he thought. He was starting to feel a warmth inside him, something that had been gone since Alex left him.

And after a week, Percy wanted to be warm again. So he took another swig, and another, and another, and he drank until he forgot his brother's name.

Outside the window, it started to rain.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

In Hudson, the rain poured down hard on the gray sidewalks and white-walled buildings. So hard, in fact, that most of the hardy citizens had abandoned their tasks needed to be completed on this Sunday morning and stayed inside their warm, dry houses. The usual hustle and bustle of the urbanized province was now only a few people rushing here and there, umbrellas up and raincoats zipped up as high as they could be. No one stopped to talk on the streets as they sometimes did. Outdoor stalls of the daily Farmer's Market were boarded up and locked.

Riley Fay, however, had no rain coat or umbrella as she strolled down the street with a slight smile on her face. Her blueish eyes were wide as she looked around the dismal scene, but she didn't seem to be looking at the sadness in the scene. She looked at the beauty in the rain and was calm as she walked down the familiar path she always traveled on Sundays to the bakery.

Passing by stores open, but unoccupied, Riley strolled. Her walk was not the one of someone in a hurry, but of someone who had a purpose. There was always a bounce in her stride, people who'd seen the brunette would say. Of course, no one had really seen Riley, despite her having been a member of the Hudson community her entire life. However, it was an overcrowded city, with gang violence and street crime rates one of the worst in the country. No one really knew anyone in Hudson, besides friends they'd known all their lives. When they did pass the girl, they avoided eye contact and kept their heads down, afraid that Riley, too, was a part of a gang. With her ears pierced three times on each side and the occasional glimpse of a few tattoos, it wasn't a far sketch.

However, if people bothered to look at the young adult closely, they'd see things that didn't show a gang member. They showed a person.

Her hair was a light brown, with golden tinge to it. Her eyes were blue, but they had a rim of brown around the edges. Her figure was delicate and slim, although both her chest and lower area were things the guys on the street tended to notice and whistle at. She was a petite girl, standing only around 5'4, with a curious sort of gaze about her. If she happened to be wearing a dress when she was walking, one might observe a small heart outline inked right below her collar bone on the right side. It was only about a centimeter in diameter, and easy to miss if one didn't know what they were looking for. The same could be said for the feather tattoo behind her left ear. Only visible if Riley pulled her hair up in a ponytail or a bun. Only apparent if someone knew exactly what they were looking for.

On the damp streets of Hudson, the people passed her by without even a second glance.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

It's funny how often memories come to those who are trying to forget.

As Percy drowned more than half the bottle, memories, sharp memories, came back to him of his brother. More clearly and more precise than he knew he could have remembered them when he was sober.

There was the time when he and Alex had been seven, and had told Callie, who was then 5, that the fountain in the garden courtyard was magical. It had been Percy's idea to prank their younger sister, of course. Alex would never have started the idea. However, both boys thought it was funny until Callie had nearly drowned trying to swim in the fountain when she didn't know how. Despite both their actions into the prank, the Queen had only punished Percy, knowing that Alex would never have instigated the trick. Percy hadn't spoken to his twin for five days after that, furious that Alex hadn't been forced to give up his dessert to. Of course, on the sixth day after Alex slipped Percy a slice of cake from the dinner table they were friends again.

Another gulp, half the bottle gone.

The first time they'd met Ciara came into mind. They were nine, now, and she was eight. Percy remembered how big her green eyes had been when she walked into the Illéan palace for the first time and how frizzy her red hair was. Her parents, the Irish king and queen, had been nice. They'd gotten along well with his parents. "Run along and play now." he remembered his father telling him and Alex, who were unsure around this quaint, energetic new girl in the green dress. They'd shown Ciara, slightly nervously, their Royal game room. She didn't seem impressed by it and told them she'd rather go see the barn, if they had one. Alex, not usually the first to go outside, had jumped to his feet and showed her the way, the redhead chasing right after him. Percy had followed, too, not willing to be left behind on the journey. When they reached the stables, Percy had accidentally opened the door and let one of the stallions out of the stalls, which had turned and tried to charge them. Percy would have been dead if Ciara hadn't calmed the horse down and coaxed it back into its stall. Even then, she'd been a terrific horse person. Alex had simply roared with laughter over the whole thing.

This alcohol's defective, Percy thought, blinking away memories from his eyes and taking another drink. The bottle was considerably lighter in his hand now. Perhaps you had to drink the whole thing in order to stop feeling pain.

Then there was Alex and his sixteenth birthday party, which had turned out to be a disaster. The Queen at this point had just announced she was pregnant with Courtney and was having a horrible time with morning sickness, which was unusual. None of her other children, not even the twins, had made her this sick. On top of this, she'd caught the flu epidemic that had been passing around the castle. For three days she was unable to leave her bed and was so sick that there were rumors among the palace staff that the Queen and the Royal child might not make it. The happy plans for the sixteenth birthday of the two princes were quickly forgotten by everyone, even the boys themselves. On the night before their birthday, all the siblings slept in the old nursery with Aiden, having come back from their grown up rooms to the room they'd all once lived in. They didn't talk much that night, each one embarrassed that they relied on each other for company. Aiden, who was only three and a half at the time was asleep early, but Aria, Callie, Alex, and he'd been up all night worried about their mom. It wasn't until two in the morning, when the youngest brother had woken up and crawled into Callie's lap when Alex had suggested that they should read a bedtime story. Alex pulled out a worn, well-loved copy of "Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes" and read in his calm voice until everyone except he and Percy were asleep. And although Percy never would admit he needed to hear the story to fall asleep, he knew his twin had known to keep reading until he'd finally fallen asleep to. In the morning, all five children had been woken up to a maid's joyous calls. The Queen's fever had broken in the night. She was going to be ok.

How much did you have to drink to forget things like that? Percy wasn't sure, but he knew he was going to get there eventually. He took another drink of the liquid.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

Although no one noticed Riley as she walked down the street, the odd, golden haired girl noticed everyone and everything. She saw the businessman in a suit rush in front of her, in hurry to reach one meeting or another. She watched as the young couple held hands and laughed as they walked under their umbrella. They look happy, she thought, and for a moment there was an ache in her chance. Of course they were happy. They had each other. They were in love. Most of all, someone loved them back.

All Riley had in life was herself. And her camera.

No matter where Riley went, she always had her camera. It was her one treasured possession, really, as she drifted from place to place, province to province. Of course, it was also her key to living, but she loved it for so much more than that. As a five, there weren't a whole lot of jobs she could do without a camera.

With a camera, she could be so much more than just Riley Fay, a 20 year old girl with no family, no friends, and nowhere to go but forward. Much as she wanted to go backwards, to see her grandma, her mom, her old house once more time, she couldn't. They were gone. They'd all left her at one point. Now, she was alone. A feather in the wind blowing in every direction at once.

Her mother had in childbirth, giving birth to Riley. To this day, her death had been a source of guilt and curiosity to herself. Complications in birth were not unheard at all as a Five. However, Riley still wondered if her mother had regretted becoming pregnant with her as she lay dying. She certainly regretted who Riley's father was, the girl guessed, having been told by her grandmother that her father ran off when she found out that Riley's mom was pregnant with him.

Sometimes things were easier looking through a lens, Riley mused as she walked and remembered her upbringing. Maybe that was why she always had enjoyed photography so much. You saw just enough through the camera lens and in pictures. Enough to see the story, but not to experience all the pain and the hardship in the world.

That thought made Riley remember her grandmother and, with a pain in her chest, her grandmother's death. It had been two years ago, now, since her passing. Riley could still remember it like it was yesterday, however. Her grandmother had raised her since she'd been an infant. She'd been the only family Riley had ever known. Saying goodbye to her had been the hardest thing she'd ever have to do. The weight of her loss still could be felt in her heart, everyday.

Sometimes the hardest thing about loss is learning how to breathe again.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

How come you can feel like you're drowning when you know you breathe so rapidly?

The alcohol had numbed most of the pain by now, although twinges of grief came here and there occasionally, when Percy was staring out into space. He didn't know what he was looking at, really. The blank wall wasn't remotely interesting, but he stared at it and started laughing anyway.

It wasn't funny, either, and the laugh wasn't really, but it felt good to laugh anyway.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

 _"Grandma?" Riley had asked, kneeling at the bedside of the dying old woman with tears in her blue eyes. She clutched at the wrinkled hand, as if it was she and not her grandmother who needed to hang on to the world around her._

 _She was barely breathing now, Riley knew. It wouldn't be long until she passed. The doctor's had told her to be glad she'd had this long. She was 72, which was almost unheard of for a Five to be living to._

 _It wasn't long enough, Riley knew._

 _-LINE BREAK-_

The thing that hurts the most about grief is being able to hold someone in your thoughts, but not being able to have them in your arms. This was what Percy was feeling now, as he sat laughing at the wall with three fourths of the wine in his stomach. Though he didn't really understand why he was laughing, he knew that it was something he shouldn't be doing. But, try as he might, he couldn't get himself to stop.

"My brother's dead." he whispered, and then giggled like a small child. What was wrong with him, he wondered. Maybe he was just simply that awful of a human being, to be drinking and laughing when he should be crying and morning the loss of Alex.

"He's dead." he said, slightly louder this time. His words seemed to echo around his head, as if he hadn't ever understood them before he'd said them.

Percy got to his feet, unsteadily, and picked up the bottle. There was still a few mouthfuls of the drink in the bottom of the bottle. Somewhere in the fogginess of Percy's brain, he knew that drinking them would truly make him forget his pain for this night at least. If he drank the rest, he knew he'd wake up and have no recollection of what happened this night.

Of course he probably wouldn't anyway, he thought as he drowned another gulp before staggering into his bathroom to throw up into the toilet his maids had worked for hours to polish.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

 _The breathing rate was slowing down even more, Riley could tell as she sat by the bed of the only family she'd ever known. She knew she should have been crying by this point. Any good granddaughter would be at this point. However, her eyes stayed dry as she walked the seconds on the wall clock tick down the few minutes her grandmother had left._

 _All she felt was this empty feeling, as if a part of her heart had decided to get up and leave her._

 _Was this normal? Was she supposed to feel as if her heart had been ripped out? Like a part of her was leaving the world and never coming back?_

 _"Riley?" the weak voice of her grandmother startled the girl and she immediately dropped onto her knees besides the old woman's bed._

 _Her blue eyes were wide with concern, but they still let out no tears. Her voice, however, trembled as she spoke. "Grandma?" she spoke quietly, as if she was afraid her voice could do more damage to the dying woman. "Grandma, please! Don't leave me."_

 _Her grandmother's left hand reached out, shakily and unsteadily, to stroke Riley's cheek. She ignored the question, as if she hadn't heard her granddaughter speak. "You're all grown up, now. I did my job well."_

 _The tears came now, just as Riley had decided she had be strong. "No, Grandma. I haven't grown up yet. I still need you. Please." she touched the hand of her grandmother, which still rested on her cheek. "Don't go."_

 _"I'm afraid I must." her grandmother's voice was fading as her hand dropped from Riley's cheek. "I pray life will be kinder to you than it was to me." She ignored the tight squeeze Riley had on her other hand and went on. "Life is hard and ugly and terrible. Except love. Love's good." she said, and her eyes became glazed and unfocused. They drifted up to the ceiling and she smiled slightly, as if she could see something that Riley couldn't. One of the girl's tears fell off of her cheek and on to her grandmother's hands, but she didn't notice. She was busy talking to someone who wasn't their. Her breathing came in slower and slower breaths until eventually, it was nothing._

 _"Is that you, Conar?" she asked, so quietly that Riley almost didn't hear. "I'm ready now."_

 _Inside Riley's strong grip, her grandmother's hand became limp and Riley knew she was gone. It was all over._

 _-LINE BREAK-_

When your heart breaks, it tends not to do so evenly.

After heaving the contents of his stomach into the toilet, Percy rose to his feet, nearly falling down as he did so. He walked shakily to the mirror, where he saw Alex's face staring back at him. The same brown eyes and chocolatey hair.

"You're not real." Percy told him, angrily.

The Alex in the mirror said nothing, simply looked at Percy with the calm expression his twin had always used to wear, as if he was appraising him. Calculating whether he should risk the argument or not.

Percy's knees were shaking badly now and he had to grip the counter to keep himself upright. He screamed at the Alex in the mirror, furious that his brother wasn't speaking to him. "Why did you leave us?! We needed you! I needed you! Were you just too afraid to live up to your duty that you were supposed to do?"

He looked away from the figure of his brother, still unspeaking and wearing that calm smile. Percy's knuckles were white from gripping the marble countertop. "Coward." he whispered, under his breath.

The boy in the mirror hadn't answered him or made any response. He just stood, staring at Percy as if he couldn't believe what he was doing. The same, calm smile he always wore. The same one he'd been buried wearing, although the hole in his forehead had made it difficult to look at.

"COWARD!" Percy screamed and he slammed his fist into the mirror as hard as he could. The glass cracked and shattered into a million pieces. Some sliced into Percy's hand, but he didn't care. His brother was gone. Now, as he looked down at the glass shards, the remanence of the ornate mirror, he saw only his pale, angry looking reflection. However, because the two had been identical, there was almost no change.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

Riley had called someone to pick up her grandmother's body and packed her bag. She'd left the door unlocked behind her into the small apartment before she'd left. She had no idea where she was going, but she couldn't stay in that haunted house anymore. She needed to leave, to be free of the pain.

She swung her tote bag over her shoulder and adjusted her camera bag around her neck.

Maybe if she pretended to look at her life through a lens, she could feel numb.

 _-LINE BREAK-_

The rest of the bottle went down in three gulps and then Percy collapsed on his bed, lights fading. He let the bottle slip from his hands and was awake just long enough to hear the cracking of the glass against his floors before the world went dark and the pain slipped away from him for the first time that night.

 **Thanks everyone! Also, I'm probably starting a tumblr for this story, so I'll post the link or what it's called next chapter if I have it up and ready.**

 **~Sora**


	5. Broken Glass

**Heyyyy! New update! Yay! This one has some violence in it and another stage of grief the siblings and Ciara are going through, aka, fighting and being jerks. Then, of course, one new girl is going to be introduced (although one's already in the palace) and then next chapter is the Report.**

 **I'm going to say right now, I've never been drunk or hung over (I'm only 14 xD so let's hope not) and I really didn't want to have "hung over symptoms" on my google search bar, so I did my best interpretation from what I've heard before and been told in the "NEVER EVER DRINK" speeches from adults.**

 **Poor Percy. I feel so bad for him. I give him so much pain. *evil laugh***

 **Let's do this thing!**

Percy woke up the next morning looking like crap and feeling far worse. His dark hair was stuck up in weird angles and his arms were cut and stained with blood from falling onto the glass of the broken mirror. He climbed to his feet and found he ached all over. Remind me to never sleep on the hard bathroom floor again, he thought to himself. He had the worst headache he'd ever had in his entire life, too. Any kind of noise or light made him want to die.

"How could the day get worse from here." Percy grumbled softly, and then winced at the noise he made. This day officially sucked already, he knew, although it was probably going to have sucked no matter what.

There was a loud knock on Percy's door that made him jump. He left the bathroom, rubbing his head as he did so, and pulled it open. He had been expecting a made or something, but he came face to face with his sister and Ciara, both dressed and looking far better than he did. Ciara's hair had been braided and pulled back and she wore a simple black dress with a mini veil over her face. Percy wondered if it was maybe overkill, but ever since she'd arrived she's had veils over her face. Maybe it was a tradition in Ireland.

Callie, on the other hand, had no veil and her blond hair was curled and framed her face like a halo. She wore a black, floor length gown with long, puffed sleeves. She was a good 3 inches taller than Ciara, who barely stood as tall as 5'2, and the long dress didn't help the height difference.

Percy groaned inwardly. Of course his little sister and his best friend would have to see him like this. The day wasn't going to be horrible enough.

"Well," Callie said, looking her older brother up and down, "You look like crap." she said bluntly. Ciara didn't say anything, but she gave a slight smile at her friend's comment.

Percy rolled his eyes at them. "Gee, thanks." he said, hand still pressed against his forehead. "Love you, too, sis."

Callie shrugged, clearly unabashed by her behavior. "I can say whatever I want if you're going to drink yourself to death." She ran a hand through her blond hair while fixing him a hard look with her blue eyes. "It might even be my speech at your funeral. God knows I have enough black clothes to attend that, too." she strolled past Percy's gaping mouth and perched herself on the edge of the large bed.

Percy glared daggers at her while Ciara stood apprehensively in the doorway, as if unsure whether to run for help or not.

"How dare you say that?" Percy growled at his sister, who was now examining her French-tipped finger nails with great curiosity.

The blonde looked up at him and blinked her blue eyes innocently. "What? That I have enough black to wear at your funeral? Well, I suppose I might need one or two more things, but..." Before she could finish, Percy had grabbed her and shoved her down onto the bed, pinning her.

"Don't you dare!" He screamed, pushing her hard down into the comforter. "How dare you be so casual about his death?!"

"Percy!" Ciara rushed forward and tried to pull him off his sister, who was glaring at Percy and struggling beneath his grip.

The redhead tried to free her friend, but Percy pinned Callie down easily. His sister spat back up at him. "I took his death seriously! It's you who isn't, drinking yourself to death. How do you expect to start running a country like that? Going to rule drunk out of your mind?"

Percy yelled incoherently and pulled her up, slamming her against the bedroom wall with a loud crash. A picture fell of the wall and smashed. Ciara screamed at Percy to stop, but he had focus only on his sister, who continued to shout at him, even though he was repeatedly slamming her into the wall. "Going to do this to the Selected girls who upset you? Real nice quality in a brother and a prince, I must say. Picking on girls younger and smaller than yourself."

Then she said something that made Percy stop cold. "You coward."

He dropped her instantly and let her tumble to the floor. He stood over her, a murderous rage come across his normally peaceful face. Fists raised, he looked about ready to kill her. "Coward, am I?" he asked. "Coward?!"

Callie's blue eyes still had the same hardness they had to them. There was no sign of fear or weakness in her expression, even though she was on the floor below a less than sane man. "Yeah. You are! Drinking your pain away. Not showing up to help any of us. Not realizing that we might be able to comfort you, or for God's sake, need comforting as well. Did you maybe think that some of us might have loved him too?" her voice started to shake. "Is this what Alex would have wanted? For you to break apart and stop living?"

Without thinking, Percy shot his leg out and kicked Callie hard in the side. She screamed in pain and held up her arms in defense. Percy prepared to kick her again, but suddenly there was a huge crash and a horrible pain over his head, which almost knocked him to the floor. Glass fell around him, cutting him more than he had been. He turned around slowly and saw Ciara trembling behind him, tears in her green eyes, holding the broken end of the wine bottle she had just smashed over his head.

"Stop!" she yelled, starting to cry harder. "Stop, both of you. All of this fighting and no one's even trying to stay sane! I can't believe I have to go through all of this and be the responsible one as well, even though he left me and..." she trailed off, slowly, watching Percy's face lose its anger and Callie clamber to her feet, looking confused. She crossed her arms over her stomach, protecting it in case Percy was to attack her next. "He won't ever get to see the baby." she whispered, letting her secret spill.

There was no taking it back now.

Percy just looked shocked as he stared at his friend as if he'd never seen her before in his entire life.

"Baby?" Callie's eyes were impossibly wide her head as she stared at Ciara's stomach.

Ciara nodded and swallowed. "Yes..." she whispered.

The Prince walked toward her and the redhead winced and turned away, making Percy stop dead in his tracks and take a step back. "You're... pregnant?" he asked, voice cracking slightly.

She nodded again.

"And, it's... his baby? But, what? How? When?"

Ciara wore a sad sort of smile. "We were married for three years, Percy. Ever since I turned 18. Alex was 19. I, I loved him so much, Perc. You'd always been my best friend, but we'd always been like brother and sister. Alex and I, though. It was just love." She ducked her head down, embarrassed to look either of them in the eyes. "The baby's due in 6 more months."

There was a moment of silence in the room.

Then, Callie rushed forward and threw her arms around her friend and both of them sunk to the ground, sobbing. Percy just stood shocked staring at the two girls for a moment.

"I'm... I'm sorry." he rushed from the room as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew it was anywhere but the room with his sister and the girl he'd thought had been his best friend.

The girl who had apparently married his brother and not bothered to tell him.

The girl who was now carrying his brother's child.

Hadn't she known that information like that was key? Not only for his sanity, but for the sake of the government. If she had that child, wouldn't that make it the Heir? After all, she'd become pregnant when Alex was alive and still the crown prince... Percy shook his head wildly, as if he could forget the information by tossing it out his ears. Sadly, it didn't work.

Damn her, he thought. She was supposed to be his best friend. His only friend, really, besides his siblings. But now... he wasn't sure. Why didn't she tell him that they'd gotten married? What had been the point of hiding it from him? It wasn't like he was an idiot. He'd always suspected something might have been going on between the two of them. He'd always wondered... It wasn't like he would have been jealous or anything. Sure, Ciara was great, but she was like a sister to him. Any romantic interest would have been weird...

Not noticing where he was going, Percy slammed into something and fell backwards. "Ahh!" the thing screamed, and the Prince realized it was a girl. The papers she had been holding flew out of her hands and all over the floor as she went down as well.

"Oh my God!" Percy said, standing up quickly and holding out a hand to help the girl up. She took it gladly and pulled herself to her feet. "Uhh.." Percy said, suddenly embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that." His cheeks blushed red.

The girl was obviously not a maid, though she looked younger than he was. She wore a dark grey dress made of what looked like velvet, with medium length sleeves and a bow in the front. It complimented her chocolate brown skin very well. Her dark hair was in loose curls tumbling down her back. Percy toward over her, even when she was now standing up. She could not have been more than five feet tall. She was quite pretty and carried herself in a noble sort of fashion. As he watched her straighten her dress, he suddenly recognized her. She was his mother's personal assistant and secretary, Melissa Sorenclair. Percy hadn't really talked with her much, but from what he'd seen of her she'd been nice enough. And she was quite pretty, he found himself thinking. He suddenly became embarrassed of what he must look like after drinking an entire bottle of wine and passing out on the bathroom floor all night.

Melissa looked up and suddenly flushed, as if she'd just noticed who he was. She immediately dropped into an elegant curtsey. "Your majesty." she spoke, her voice clear and melodious sounding. "I'm so sorry!"

"No, don't be. It was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going." he gestured down at the papers she'd dropped. "May I give you a hand with those?"

She nodded and bent down to start picking them up and Percy followed her lead. "What are these?" he asked, starting at the document he held in his hand, which seemed to be a list of girls' names.

The girl quickly snatched it back from him. "You weren't supposed to see that." she said, head ducking slightly. She got all the papers back in her arms and shuffled them so the one he'd seen was hidden in the stack. "But, if you must know, it's the Selected list, since the Report is tonight."

"Ahh, yes, the Report... WAIT, WHAT?!" Percy shouted, eyes widening. "The Report can't be tonight! It's only Wednesday!"

Melissa raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, but because the girls need to arrive Monday and have some time to settle down after getting the news, we decided to move up the Report. Someone told you about this two days ago, after we decided on it. Truthfully, I don't know many of the details. Your mother's been... indisposed this week, so I have been dealing mostly with business and things. I haven't read the list or anything, I promise. As someone who entered, I'm not really supposed to see until tonight. I just have to give this to the Report staff so they can organize the pictures."

Percy thought his head might explode from the shock. He had a vague recollection of someone telling him the Report was going to be moved up, but it had slipped from his mind until just now. Maybe that had been why Callie had been so hard on him... He certainly didn't look his best at the moment. He didn't really know what to say to Melissa except, "Oh... you entered?"

As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn't. If she had been blushing before, it was nothing to what she was doing now. "Oh, well," she stuttered, caught off guard, "Well, since they increased the number of girls to 25, I thought I might have a better chance." she attempted to joke, but Percy missed it with the new information being introduced.

"Hey! Why is it 25 girls?! It was supposed to be 21 in honor of..." He left his sentence unfinished, glaring at the girl in front of him. He knew she hadn't been the cause of the increase, but she knew about it before he did and that was enough.

"It was going to be, but the King decided that might make it look as if the Royal family wasn't healing fast enough, and he decided to raise it to 25. Since it wasn't, er, originally your Selection, they decided to keep the number lower than the usual amount."

The Prince was fuming by this point. "What do you mean 'Not healing fast enough'? What the hell is that supposed to mean? We can't even miss him? Well, if I'm going to stand for that, I'll be dam-"

"Your majesty!" Melissa drew herself up to her full height of approximately 5'1, which was not all that intimidating. "Control yourself!" She gave him such a hard look that Percy lapsed into kind of a stunned silence. "The number will be 25 and neither you nor I have the authority to change that, especially since 25 girls names have already been drawn and the Report is in ten hours. I suggest you use that time to clean yourself up and get the alcohol of your breath so the girls being drawn tonight don't see a completely helpless person. I understand it's hard to lose someone, but you can't just stop living especially when you have a country to run. A country that's counting on you to give it a boost after the tragic loss it's had. Has it ever occurred that it's not just the people who knew Alex suffering? The entire country is a nervous wreck and they need you to pull it out of the gutter. I've already spent my entire morning trying to coax your mother out of her bedroom and to stop crying, but she refused rather rudely. You need to be the man now. For God's sakes, run a country already!" She yelled at him so plainly Percy lost his voice. A red flush filled his face as she scolded him. Once she seemed to be finished, Melissa straightened her dress again. "Now, I really must see about this list. Good day, your majesty." she gave a formal curtsey and walked away.

Percy gaped at her as she walked away. He admired her composure. She didn't storm away or stop her heels. She walked with a purpose and the step of someone who had a place to be.

He knew he should take her advice and clean up, so he wouldn't be the country's laughing stock. However, he stood and watched the girl walk down the corridor until she was out of sight. He found it hard to take his eyes off of her, and not just because she'd been the only one not his family who'd had the nerve to yell at him before.

It was because her name had been on the list of the girls Selected that he wasn't supposed to have seen.

 **O.o Ciara's secret is out, at least to Percy and Callie. I thought about waiting to tell until later, but realized they'd found out on their own pretty soon since she's already 3 months. So yeah. I can't say he took the news great XD**

 **Love ya all! Remember to review, favorite, and follow! Thank you all!**

 **~Sora**


	6. Report-ness Part 1 or Cold Water Barrels

**Heyyyyyy so this is the Report chapter so I don't want to take to long in the A/N. Besides, I don't really have anything to say except thanks for all the support.**

 **Also, my birthday was last Saturday so yay! Officially 15 now! So, to all of you who were like "Wow! You're only 14?", I was really close to 15. Thanks, though, for all your compliments! You guys are so sweet!**

 **Let's do this chapter-y thing.**

 **Credits to the lyrics in the beginning belong to Rachel Platten in her song "Lone Ranger".**

 _Sometimes I get high, sometimes I get low_

 _But I'm calm as can be in a room full of strangers_

 _But oh my, don't try to get close_

 _I'm just gonna leave 'cause baby I'm a lone ranger_

Percy had approximately five minutes before the Report started and that was enough time, in his logic, to go stick his head in a barrel of ice water. If only he'd thought to do it before he went on live television and saw the picture of his future wife and twenty-four other beautiful girls for the first time. He didn't think he could feel any worse than he did this morning, but apparently he'd been wrong.

Where was a barrel when you needed one, he thought bitterly as he watched his siblings file into the room and take their places on either sides of him. Absentmindedly, he fiddled with his blue shirt under his suit jacket. It felt odd to be wearing colors again. He'd gotten word earlier in the day that his father had ordered he and all his siblings to wear a mix or color and black to show that the Royal family was "healing".

It was a bunch of lies.

There was no healing going on. There was only a broken family with siblings who couldn't stop fighting, a tired old king who cared more about the country than his family, and a queen who's tear stains where evident even under the pound of makeup she wore.

What a Royal family they all were.

Percy glanced around at his other siblings. On his immediate right, Callie sat, her blond hair pulled up in an elegant bun. Her black dress had been paired with red heels and a red cardigan that had long sleeves, despite the heat of the bright lights of the Report. She kept fiddling with her sleeves and was deliberately looking anywhere but at Percy's face. Next to her was Aria. She hadn't really followed their father's orders. She wore all black, except for a navy blue bow that tied up her brown hair. She couldn't stop sniffling and seemed to be working hard to hold back tears. Of course, it was the first Report without Percy, who'd usually sat next to her. There was an empty space where his chair used to rest. Percy turned away, unable to look at it any longer.

On his left, Courtney played with her green and black dress. She looked darling as always with little ribbons in her blond hair. She saw Percy looking at her and flashed him a brilliant smile. She had no idea why her family looked so sad. The last sibling he saw was Aiden. His blondish brown curls had been flattened with water and he was giving a slight wave to someone in the Report audience. Percy crained his head to look and saw a girl around his brother's age with dark brown curls and pretty, green eyes waving back. She wore a simple navy blue dress, not regal enough to be Royalty but more formal than a maids. He had no idea who she was, but he was relieved to see his brother getting back to his normal self, so he didn't really care.

"Five, four, three, two..." The camera man counted down the seconds until they were on, mouthing the word "one" slightly. A red light flashed on the camera. It was time.

Percy took his gaze off the mysterious girl and pulled his thoughts away. Crap, he wasn't ready!

Angelica Di'Cap, the Report's best and only Reporter, came strutting out of the audience, the camera following her as she walked onstage. With her trademark 4-inch-heels, pink painted fingernails, and purple skater dress, Angelica was very out of place in the somber mood of the Royal family. She didn't seem particularly bothered by that, though. Percy had known the reporter for all of his life. Not much fazed her or kept her from being her perky self.

"Hey Illéa!" Angelica winked at the camera. "Didn't see you there? Is everybody ready for the big announcement?" She didn't really wait for a response before continuing. "Of course you are!"

Percy was pretty sure she was bouncing up and down as she chatted away with the crowd about what the heck was going on in his country. Ever since Alex's death, he'd kind of lost touch with it. Truthfully, he didn't ever pay attention to what was actually happening on the Report, and neither did any of his siblings. As he tried not to grimace at his headache, Courtney climbed out of her chair and into his lap. Percy folded his arms around her and held her, kissing the top of her head as she did so.

"So, Illéa, now those boring announcements have been made, let's get to what everyone's really been waiting for- The Selection Announcement! We're sure excited and I'm sure the Royal family is as well. Before we show the names, let's have a few words from the Royals." Angelica walked over to where the King and Queen sat, both looking exhausted just looking at the woman's bounciness.

Addressing the King, she started. "Your majesty, the Royal family has certainly had some hard times lately. Do you feel the Selection will be a source of healing for your family and this country?" At this, she gave a sad face that looked like a kicked puppy to try and fit the move, which didn't really suit her.

King Stephen tried for a weak smile as he ran his hand through his graying hair. He had a two day stubble of beard growth on his face, but even at 50, he was still similar to the handsome Prince he used to be. "Well, Angelica, I certainly hope so."

Angelica nodded brightly and moved on to the Queen. "Your highness, from someone who's entered the Selection and won, do you have any advice for the girls who will soon become daughters of Illéa?"

Queen Amanda's blue eyes were red from her tears, but she kept her voice even and light as she answered. "Don't forget who you are." she said simply, with a tone in her voice that made it clear that she wasn't going to say anything else.

"Ok..." the poor reporter seemed to know that she'd exhausted her two best sources. "Let's go to the Royal children now," she said, and walking over to where Percy and his siblings sat, much to Percy's dismay.

Oh God, he wasn't ready for this!

"Now, let's start on the far left. Prince Aiden, if I might ask, what are your thoughts about the Selection?" she said, sticking her microphone in the young Prince's face.

Aiden shrugged and looked fairly bored. "It's like a game. You have to play to win."

"And, Princess Aria," Angelica bounced over to the other end. "What do you think about 25 woman moving into your house?"

"How should I know?" Aria was rather forceful in her answer. "I haven't even seen them yet."

Angelica was not getting the responses she wanted, Percy could tell. "Er, yes." she said, nervously, walking to Callie. "Princess Callisa, do you have any advice to give your brother on this matter?"

Callie glanced over at Percy, nervously. "Umm..." the usually unflappable Callie seemed at a loss for words. "Chose well?" she offered, rather unhelpfully.

It was probably taking all of Angelica's strength not to punch something right now. That was why Percy, if he'd not been born a while, could never have been a reporter. Too many annoying people you couldn't hit. Of course, Percy couldn't hit his sister on live television, so he settled for stomping on her foot instead. Callie bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain.

"Well, let's go straight to Prince Perseus before we finally announce the names that all Illéa has been waiting for. Your majesty, do you have anything to add on the subject before we show the 25 girls?"

Time for a weak attempt at humor, he thought. He cracked a small smile at Angelica. "Is it a bad time to ask for a bathroom break?" he joked, getting a laugh from the audience. That calmed him down slightly.

"A little late for that. All of Illéa has been waiting for this moment. And, it starts... right... NOW!" Angelica almost squealed on the last word, despite the fact she was almost 40. She drew the first card out of the basket as the projector turned on to show the girls imagine once the reporter had read the name.

"Starting with our very own Queen Amanda's home province of Allens is Lady Snow Caitlin Evers, two." The name was announced and the screen changed from black to the picture of a very pretty blond girl. The camera had caught her mid laugh, and though her attention was not fully focused on in front of her, it was still a nice effect. Her blond hair was curled in a long, high ponytail and her green eyes shown.

Oh God, was he smiling? He hadn't wanted to show any emotion at all to try impartial. All these girls came from different backgrounds, after all. Why was it so hard to not smile when someone was laughing?

"Next, from our Capital of Angeles, Lady Melissa Sorenclair, two." The name itself wasn't a shock to him at all. Melissa looked far more relaxed than she had today in her photo, with the light pink background perfectly complimenting her chocolate brown skin. She really was pretty, although after how he'd acted, he doubted she'd ever like him again.

"From Atlin, Lady Margoret Medavane, six." At the third girl, Percy promptly took his no-emotion rule and threw it out the window. Although pretty in a dangerous sort of way, Margoret was full on glaring at the camera. With her choppy, bleached blond hair and intense eyes, it would be lying if Percy said he wasn't a little nervous. Next to him, Callie was smirking, probably at the pleasure of his discomfort.

"Next, Lady Lisalotte Marjin van Bergen, a three from Bankston." Angelica announced as Margoret's picture and was replaced by a picture of Lisalotte. Percy relaxed obviously. While this girl still had a sort of proud way of carrying herself, she didn't look like she wanted to physically harm him and that was a plus. She had dark brown hair in long waves and brown eyes that matched her olive colored completion well. She was pretty, with a smile that expressed both humor and amusement at the situation.

"From Belcourt, Lady Andraste Magdalena Ward, seven" The audience seemed confused as a girl with a blond pixie cut flashed up on the screen. Although King Stephen and Queen Amanda had done a lot to stabilize the caste system and the gaps it held, it was unusual for a caste as low as a seven to be in a Selection. It had happened in the past, however, so there was not too much concern.

Angelica ignored the crowds whispering and moved on to Calgary. "Lady Rebecca Anna Diana Kindley, three" she read off. As she did, a pretty brunette flashed up with dark eyes flashed up. The girl was beautiful, with skin like porcelain and a soft smile on her face. Percy gave a small smile at her.

"From Carolina, Lady Fredricka Barthelemy, three." This girl was a blond like the first girl had been, though she was a little older than Snow. Her eyes were blue instead of green, and they held a sort of hard light that was both empathetic and tough. From Percy's lap, Courtney titled her head to get a better view of the girl. Aiden was looking out at the audience, not paying attention.

"From Clermont, Lady Janellese Monay Lockhart- er, caste 5." Angelica's voice cracked halfway through it as she caught a look at the girl. Janellese had pale blue hair, that had been dyed to be slightly darker at the tips and lighter at the top. Holy cow, Percy thought, cracking a full smile. That girl had guts, he had to give her that. His parents didn't see too happy about it. He could see his mother's lips purse in distaste.

"Uh, moving on." The reporter had to work hard to keep the focus of the crowd. "Let's go to Dakota, where the girl representing the province will be Lady Rowan Cedonia Shade, three." Angelica announced, her usual bubbliness starting to creep back into her voice. Lady Rowan was much more normal than Lady Janellese. She had dark auburn curls and brown eyes. She had sort of a quizzical look on her face, as if she was halfway through asking a question, but the effect was still pretty. And, Percy added to himself, not blue.

While drawing out the next card, Angelica accidently took a step forward and tripped, falling off the stage and into the audience. Callie yelped in surprise, Aiden jolted out of his thoughts and started to laugh, while Courtney started to cry. The King and Queen looked confused and Percy had to work hard not to facepalm. Aria looked like she'd missed the whole thing.

There was a pause were no one moved.

"I think this might be a good time to take a break, Illéa," Callie sighed, signalling the camera man to turn it off for a few minutes.

That was convienient, because there was something Percy quite urgently needed to do. As soon as the camera light flicked off, he got up and ran to the bathroom, hoping he could make it back in time.

 **I would have done the full report chapter, but it was going to be over 6k words and I'm tired, so I'll do the rest next chapter. Stay tuned! Don't hate me for splitting it. It's 10:30 and I have school tomorrow. I need sleep.**


	7. Report-ness Part 2 or Lady Fluffington

**Hi. *holds up hands in defense* I know, I know! It's been a while since I've updated. To be fair, not as long as some of my friends on here I know are reading this story. *coughs* You know who you are. I swear I have a good excuse.**

 **Reports are hard to write, okay!**

 **Fine, it's a horrible excuse. Sue me. Actually, don't, please. I don't need to have my money taken away lol.**

 **Let's just move on with life and move onto the next chapter. Poor Angelica. To tell the truth, she was based off of my friend who absolutely would have fallen down off the stage.**

 **Soooooo many girls to write and give each a fair shot at grabbing Percy's attention. The layouts for the next chapters I don't have yet. I want to do something different, but I'm not sure exactly what. *shrugs* We'll see.**

 _"I don't like the memories because tears come so easily_

 _And once again I break the promise to myself for this day._

 _It's a constant war._

 _A war between forgetting_

 _and remembering."_

Percy had never seen a person look as embarrassed as Angelica looked after she fell off the stage of the Report. He'd made it just in time to realize that she was going to be fine before the cameras flipped back on and broadcasted to the entire nation what exactly his love life had come too.

Things were going great so far, that was for sure.

Angelica had ripped her dress in the fall and was refusing to come back on stage. She stood, sniffling in the corner with the producers attempting to sweet talk her back to going onto the stage. Did they not realize the cameras were rolling and had been for a least a minute?

To try and make the moment a little less boring, Percy gave an awkward, slow wave. Courtney, who was still in his lap and had now somehow acquired her old, stuffed bear which had an entire custom wardrobe, at least three silver tiaras with actual jewels, and its own room in the palace. Granted, it was a room that was supposed to be a broom closet, so it wasn't gigantic, but it was still a stuffed bear. The Prince could only imagine one of the Selected walking into the room on accident and seeing that. He would be mortified trying to explain that to the girls. _Oh yeah, that's the room for Lady Fluffington._ Seemed like an ok response for that situation. And he didn't even want to get started on the dollhouse that took up almost all of Courtney's entire room. Why did the bear even need a room? She always carried it everywhere, even though their mother had been dismayed at this fact.

Seeing Percy wave apparently inspired Courtney to take action. She held up her bear, which was currently dressed in a pink evening gown made out of real silk. It even had matching pink hair bows. Shaking her paw to indicate waving, Lady Fluffington and Courtney earned an "Awww" from the studio audience. The young princess was clearly happy about this, but she pretended to be shy. Cradling her bear against her chest, she rocked back and forth on Percy's lap with an adorable grin on her face before climbing down and running to her father. The King picked her up and set her on his lap, bouncing her back and forth on one knee. The Queen made a sound that sounded like she didn't approve of such nonsense on the Report, but she didn't say anything else.

There was another second of silence before the Queen cleared her throat. "Perhaps." she began, in her clear voice. She never spoke loudly, but her voice was easily able to silence the whispered conversations in the room. "New arrangements should be made for the rest of the drawings."

She gave a pointed look in Percy's direction, but there was no way he was going to read those names. He could only imagine pronouncing them wrong and having the girls all hate them when they got to the palace. Thankfully, help came from the most unlikely source in his younger sister, Aria. "Queen Ciara from Ireland is here at the palace to help train the girls in the Selected on how to become ladies. Perhaps she'd care to read the names." This drew a murmur of agreement from the audience and even a curt nod from her mother. Ciara, elegant as always, made her way from the audience onto the stage. She was beautiful and poised in her emerald evening gown, but Percy turned his head to look away. If she was reading them, Percy didn't want to watch. He couldn't even look at her right now.

If the Queen of Ireland was nervous, she showed no sign of it to the audience. She graciously accepted the basket of enveloped from a maid and immediately started off where Angelica had stopped. Her voice was clear and confident, not a tremor of nervousness. Of course, she was not reading of names of people she was planning to marry.

 _No, she'd already done that_ , Percy thought, bitterly. He tried to keep the anger off his face, but without a mirror anywhere near by, he wasn't sure his efforts were entirely effective.

"From Denbeigh, Lady Monroe Maryanne Zaley, caste of 7." Ciara read out, and the screen flashed up with a pretty looking brunette girl with a wide smile on her face. She had freckles across her nose and cheeks which seemed to call attention to her bright blue eyes. In his head, Percy said a silent apology to the girl in case he was looking grumpy, and hoped that when she arrived, he'd be able to explain. In this case, explain was used in a vague sense, more leaning towards the meaning "lie his butt off".

The next girl was Alia Ram Kumar, from Hansport. She, like Monroe, had brown hair, but her skin was much darker. It was almost a caramel colored and her hair was a chesnut brown. She didn't have quite the smile on her face as Monroe had worn, but she still seemed pleasant and beautiful. Percy couldn't help thinking that every girl so far had looked pleasant and beautiful in their own way, but he pushed that thought away and tried his hardest to refrain from being cynical.

"Lady Riley Fay, caste 5 represents Hudson." Ciara read as the image of yet another brunette flashed up. In her photo, Riley wasn't smiling much, but instead she titled her head as if she was studying you. Her eyes seemed somehow otherworldly, as if she knew the secrets to the universe and it troubled her. Percy couldn't lie. He really wanted to find out what secrets she knew.

"Lady Yasmin Ella Keller, caste 3 from Kent." Yasmin wasn't necessarily as striking as the other girls, but she was cute. She had a sweet smile and medium length, honey-colored hair. Her fair skin worked well with her dark blue eyes and she had amazing eyebrows. Percy wasn't sure exactly why he noticed this about the girl, or if she'd like the fact her eyebrows were what made her stick out from the other girls, but they were just perfect.

Lady Viviann Andersen was yet another blue-eyed girl and he was starting to wonder if other colors of eyes actually existed. She had darker blue eyes, a bit like Yasmin's, but her hair was a little longer and black. It curled in small ringlets and bounced around her shoulder blades. She had dimples when she smiled, which she was in the picture. Percy noticed she held her chin in a certain way that made her look confident. Not overly so at all, in fact she was very pretty. Just in a way that made Percy think that she was a girl with a plan.

"Lady Carlyn Blythe Gray, caste of 4." This was the girl Ciara read that would be representing Midston. Carlyn's hair was a mixture of brown and blonde, and it was extremely long. That was what Percy noticed at first. She was pretty, with eyes that seemed to be neither truly blue or green. They were more of a mix, and they had a certain sparkle to them that Percy liked.

A Six named Daciana Menida Tolston was going to be representing Ottaro. Percy swore if he saw another girl with blue eyes, he was going to freak out. Maybe the people choosing the girls had been partial to the color, but the past seven girls or so had varying shades of the color. Daciana was no exception, and her hair was black like Vivian's, but this girl's had a lighter streak in the front in a grayish color. Percy wasn't sure if it was natural or not.

"Lady Delaney Silvyn-Ellis, caste 4 will be representing Paloma." Ciara announced, causing the screen to flash up with a girl that _did not have blue eyes_. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Percy nearly cheered when the smiling girl with dark blondish brown curls had brown eyes. He did make sure to give her a full smile, because not only was she pretty, she was giving the camera a funny looking smile with one raised eyebrow, he couldn't help but crack a smile.

A shock came when Percy actually recognized one of the girls in his Selection that was not Melissa. Yanely Deanna Genovious was a popular gymnast who Percy believed, not that he really followed the sport, had competed at the World level. She had straight brown hair with a streak on the left side she had dyed red for some reason. Perhaps this made her stand out from the crowd, but Jannellese had been pulled first, so her plan had backfired if that was what she was thinking.

Ciara called out the next girl. They were getting very close to the end of the list, which made Percy both nervous and excited. Mostly, he wanted to go into his bedroom and never leave. On the other hand, he hadn't felt an instant true love connection with any of these girls' photos. Was he supposed to? Was he doomed to be alone and loveless forever?

 _Chill,_ he thought as the name Sawyer Lane Walsh was called out and Percy pulled himself out of his thoughts enough to focus on the girl.

Well, if Percy had wanted a change from blue eyes, he had certainly been more than rewarded with Sawyer. Her eyes were two different colors, and neither one was blue. Her left eye was a bright green and the right was a brown that looked like it wanted to be hazel to almost match, but couldn't quite handle that task. She had long, auburn hair in frizzy curls down her back and a sunny smile on her face that looked a little fake to Percy, but he would reserve judgment until he met her.

The Prince was so busy focusing on Sawyer's eyes that he almost missed Sarah Belle Sanders, the Two who was representing Waverly. Sarah looked to be of African American descent with her coffee-colored skin. She had dark hair cut in a medium length style, with eyes that looked like melted chocolate. Vaguely, Percy recognized her from a magazine that Callie and Aria read occasionally. _She must be a model, then_ , he thought.

"Lady Reagan Elizabeth Delilah Seraphina Skylar Chase, caste 4 will be representing Yukon." Ciara looked like she was going to laugh reading out all the middle names the girl had, but Percy couldn't blame her _. She must have awful parents_ , he joked to himself, as an elegant girl with black hair and green eyes flashed up on the screen. She was nice looking, but she looked a little haughty. Percy couldn't exactly tell how, but she seemed to think a lot of herself.

They were getting down to last few girls. "Lady Aenwyn Cassia Le Touraneu, caste of 6 from Zuni." That name was quite a mouthful, almost harder to say than all of Regan's middle names. Percy really hoped she told him how to pronounce it correctly, in case Ciara had done it wrong. The girl had an unruly crop of frizzy red hair that stuck out widely all over the place. In a way, Percy kind of admired her for obviously not making an effort to do much with it. A lot of the girls he knew had plastered makeup on or spent hours trying to make themselves look fabulous. Aenwyn must have had a ton of courage or a very deep rebellious streak. He had a feeling that she and Margoret would get along well.

The girl from Fennley, a three, became the second Sarah to join the Selection. Sara Laila Azalea Adel was her name, and for a moment he wondered how he was going to keep the two straight _. Then again, they were probably very different people_ , he thought as he studied the tan girl with seemingly waist-length brown hair. She had very refined cheekbones and a pretty face. He wondered if she had a nickname of some kind, or if maybe the other Sarah did. The Prince made a mental note to stop refering to them as "Sarah" and "Sara Minus the H".

Raleigh Nicole Shellington from Sota had more freckles than any other girl he'd seen so far. They covered her face, but that didn't make her unattractive at all. In fact, Percy was reminded of sprinkles on a cupcake for some reason. That was a little creepy, however, since he liked eating cupcakes and was pretty sure he had no need to eat Raleigh. She was a blonde with greenish blue eyes, with full red lips and a nice smile.

And finally, the last girl was announced. Ciara paused for a moment for dramatic effect. Percy noticed that Courtney was asleep in his father's lap. He smiled at his youngest sister and checked the time across the room. It was almost 8:30, so it was past her bedtime.

"Lastly, we have Lady Meredith Jane Arden from Bonita, caste 2." Meredith seemed very perky and sweet, as she was giving the camera a full grin. She had grayish colored eyes and ashy blond hair slightly past her shoulders. There was a rosyness to her cheeks which made her look very cute, in Percy's opinion.

"And those are the lovely ladies in this Prince Percy's Selection. As of right now, there lives have changed forever. In a week, we will see them in the palace for the first time. So, good night, Illea!" Ciara signed off as a real reporter might. The camera switched off and the little red light vanished.

Percy felt like he could breathe again.

He caught Ciara's eye and she started walking towards him, but he got up quickly. Gently lifting the sleeping Courtney off his father's lap, he started exiting the studio before she could catch him. His little sister woke up and put her arms around his neck, holding her bear in one hand. Sleepily, she asked Percy as they walked back towards her room. "Percy, is one of those girls gonna be my new sissy?"

He nodded, curtly, still not sure how he was feeling. "Yes, baby. One of them will. You can help me pick one, if you'd like."

The little Princess wriggled in excitement. "Can I meet them when you do? Mommy said you were going to have to in'veiw them. Can I help?"

Percy chuckled. "Yes, baby. When they come next week, you can help me interview them. I promise."

"Percy?" Her small voice was heavy with sleep and she reached and rubbed her eyes with her bear's paw. "Why do I need another sister? I already have Ria and Cassie. Isn't that enough."

The older Prince chuckled as he reached Courtney's room. He swung the door open and dismissed the maid that offered to take the little girl with a wave of his hand. He helped Courtney into a pair of pajamas and explained as she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. "This isn't just going to be another sister, sweetie. She's going to be my wife, too. It's like a competition."

"Oh." Courtney said, not really grasping what he was trying to tell her. Percy really hadn't expected her too. He watched lovingly as she undressed her teddy bear and got into bed. He tucked her in under the soft covers and sat at the edge of the bed. Struggling to stay awake, she asked her brother, "What about Ciara?"

Percy tried not to be angry at hearing that name. Of course, Courtney had no idea that Ciara had married Alex or was pregnant. Or that she felt the need to lie to him for years. "What about her?"

"Why can't Ciara be my new sissy? I like her better than all those girls, anyway. I want you to marry her instead." Courtney told him, her blue eyes blinking innocently up into his.

Percy bit his lip. "Because she can't, honey. Besides, you haven't even met any of the other girls, yet. I'm sure they'll be one you like just as much, maybe even more."

Courtney shook her head stubbornly. "Not as much as Ciara. I want you to marry her, and then she could be my sister, instead." Promptly after she said this, she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Percy kissed her forehead and looked at her sleeping form, before getting up from the bed. How was he supposed to explain to her that Ciara, in the way she was talking about, was her sister. She just hadn't chosen Percy.

He turned the lights off in Courtney's room and closed the door. "Sleep well, Princess." he whispered into the darkness. Percy started walking towards his room.

He had some thinking to do.

 **Awwww Courtney and Percy's relationship is adorable! I wish I had a little siblings, but all I have is an older brother. He's fun, sometimes, but also kind of annoying. I love him though.**

 **Remember to review, guys! It really helps give me feedback on what you think of this story.**

 **I'll try to update soon, but no promises. I might have callbacks for the school play this week, if I get called back. Then the cast list goes out next Monday, and I'll be in rehearsal a lot.**

 **Love you guys all sooooo much! Thank you for all the nice reviews, follows, and favorites!**

 **~Sora**


	8. Scars to Your Beautiful

Percy stood at the window, staring at the glass of red liquid he held in one hand and the bottle in the other. The cork had been unstopped, but besides the poured glass, it was full. The Prince simply stared at it as if it he wasn't sure whether it was poison or an antidote. Maybe it was some of both. He wasn't sure. These days, he wasn't sure of anything.

This was the day the girls would arrive at the palace. Officially, he wasn't supposed to be allowed to meet them until their interviews tomorrow. Probably for the better, Percy thought. If he met them know, he was more than collapse on the ground sobbing. And that would be... Awkward.

His brain was running on overdrive, trying to remember everything about all the girls. Riley Fay was the photographer. Snow Evers worked as a standup comedian. Sawyer Walsh had the two different colored eyes, which was probably not something Percy should mention right off the bat. He stared at the drink in his right hand. More than anything else, he wanted to gulp it down and forget his pain. It didn't even have to be the whole bottle. One glass would at least numb him. But he also didn't want to be meeting his future wife for the first time completely hung over.

"Tough decision?" asked a voice behind him, but Percy didn't need to turn around to recognize it. In fact, he turned farther away, as if his back would give his sister the idea that she was not welcome here. His back stiffened as Callie came into his view, her blond hair tied in a low ponytail. Her lilac dress draped across her body and down her arms.

The Prince turned his head away from her, not wanting to speak to her in the mood he was in now. She must have picked up on that, as she made no more attempts at conversation. Callie simply leaned against the wall and watched him try and chose between painful sanity and the oblivion the drink would be. "Are you here for any particular reason or would you like to tell me how stupid I am for drinking?" Percy said in a hard tone, deliberately seeking to hurt her.

If his sister felt ashamed of her actions, however, she didn't show it. Her tone was the same pleasant one she'd first used. "No, not at this moment. Maybe later, though." She told Percy, a smirk playing on her face as she teased her brother.

He rolled his eyes, but he didn't soften at her lightheartedness. The Prince was used to Callie's nature. It was in her character to go from sweet to angry in about twelve seconds. Percy turned so he was facing his sister. Even in her heeled sandals, Percy towered over her by at least six inches. "Well then, why are you here? If you'd get on with it, I'd be much obliged. I have 25 girls who will be here at any moment if you hadn't noticed and I would prefer you not be there to tell them all what a complete joke I am until at least the third date!" Percy raised his voice to a shout, without even being clear as to why he was yelling. He was mad at his sister, yes, it wasn't just her. It was every single thing in his life right now. He was so sick and tired of everything. Being in charge, being expected to know everything, people telling him whatever he did was wrong. He'd been crown Prince for a little less than two weeks and he couldn't handle it any longer.

Callie's lip quivered as if she was about to cry, but she kept her blue eyes trained on his. "I'm sorry." She said, a tone of actual regret in her voice. "I was just upset that you'd found a way to deal with the pain and you didn't help me. I didn't mean it, Perc, I promise." She played with the ends of her blond ponytail like she always did when she got nervous.

Percy wanted to stay angry, to continue to explode, but he couldn't. Like letting the air out of a balloon, he felt himself deflating and sinking towards the ground. He sank onto the ground, leaning against the wall for support, and stuck his knees up. He still held the glass and the bottle in both hands. Surprisingly, neither had spilled. Callie slipped down next to him, copying his position.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Calls." He let out the secret that he'd been trying to keep hidden since his brother's death. "It's like he was the only one keeping me sane. Without him, I just feel so lost. Empty, even." The Princess nodded, but didn't speak. She stared straight ahead at the blank wall as he continued to talk. "How do you keep going?" This time he asked directly, making it plain that he expected a real answer from her.

There was a moment of silence before Callie spoke. "I get up, I guess. I don't know if it's so much I try to keep going, though, as it's that I just am never able to stop." She added as second thought, "I've been pretty close. We've all been pretty close. But we've never stopped."

"But how do you deal with the pain?" Percy asked, as Callie lay her head on his shoulder. It was nice to have her warmth there, Percy thought. It was as if she made him stronger by simply sitting next to him.

His sister gave a wry smile, but very little humor was in it. "Drinking's good, from what I hear." She gave a short chuckle.

"Yeah," Percy said with biting sarcasm. "But then you make a fool of yourself in front of your 25 girlfriends. I just wish there was a way to numb the pain but still be able to live, you know?" Almost without meaning to, the Prince took a sip from the glass he'd poured. It wasn't that much, but the bitter liquid tasted foul. Much worse than he'd remembered. He made a face at the bottle and set it down on the floor.

Callie snorted at him, taking the glass from his other hand. "Amen to that." She told him before draining the rest of the red liquid from the cup and setting it at her feet. Percy must have looked appalled, because she laughed. "It's not nice to stare." She chided with humor, waggling her finger at him.

"You aren't 21!" Percy insisted, still throughly shocked. "That's illegal!" He hissed, looking around in case anyone had been watching.

"And you aren't my mother." Callie rolled her eyes at him. "You had just as much as me and you only turned 21 three weeks ago, so don't go thinking you can tell me what I can and can't drink." She stood up, using her arms to push herself off the ground. The lilac fabric that had obscured her wrists shifted for just a second, and in his shocked state Percy registered the scars of red all over them. The Princess noticed his eyes widen and quickly smoothed her sleeves down, obscuring them from view. "I should get going..." She started to leave but her brother caught her by the wrist, causing her to wince in pain.

He glared at her deeply and she didn't meet his eyes as he grabbed her other wrist in his other hand. Slowly, he lifted away the layers of lilac fabric and revealed something that almost made him throw up. Callie's arms were covered in deep gashes that had obviously inflicted with some sort of a knife. Her wrists had been cut so deeply and so often that just by grabbing one, it had opened again. They were fresh, Percy noticed, as he stared at some of the cuts. She tried to pull away from him, or at least slip her sleeves over the cut, but he held her fast. "What the hell?!" He yelled, making her recoil in fear. "What the hell are you doing to yourself?"

"I-" she started, but she didn't seem to have words to voice an explanation. Her blue eyes filled with tears as she struggled against him, but her brother overpowered her by far. "I don't- I didn't-"

"You didn't what?!" Percy hurled the words at her as if they were weapons. His sister started to cry harder, but he didn't let her go. "Want me to find out? Just thought I would go and let you kill yourself without doing anything?"

She shook her head, whimpering with fear and pain. "I didn't want to hurt you." She cried, her voice full of innocence that Percy wasn't quite sure he believed anymore.

"So you wanted to kill yourself and not tell me about it?! Like he did!" Percy's voice was now more full of pain than anger. Didn't she see how broken he was after Alex had left him. Didn't she know that he couldn't even manage without him, let alone her? He released her suddenly, revolted to even be touching her. She stumbled backwards, almost falling. Percy picked up the wine bottle on the ground and gulped as much as he could down. Every time he paused to swallow, he was aware of Callie's heavy sobs as she slid to the ground. Her body jerked as she cried.

He stood for nearly 10 minutes, back to his sister, before he heard the sound of running footsteps coming towards him. He spun towards the sound too quickly and fell forward, banging his head hard on the wall. Stars spun in front of his eyes as he tried to focus on the girls running towards the hallway towards him. But between the alcohol that was kicking in and the head injury, Percy wasn't sure if there was two or four of them.

As they got closer, the Prince was fairly certain that it was only two girls and one of them was Ciara. He could recognize her red hair anywhere. She was crouched down next to Callie, speaking softly to her. She glanced back at Percy and her disappointed look was enough to break his heart. He tried to stumble forward, but forward was mixed up with down in his head until the other girl, one he vaguely recognized, caught him. He leaned against her for support, trying to stay on his feet. Somewhere in the part of his mind that was still clear, he felt bad for leaning on this girl who wasn't very tall to begin with. He looked at her mixture of brownish blonde hair and her turquoise eyes and began putting together the pieces.

"You're in my Selection, aren't you?" He asked, his voice sluggish and slow. It was an effort just to get those words out. He was aware of some liquid trickling down on his head and he wondered how the wine had gotten up there.

The girl looked at Ciara with her eyes wide. She looked like she had just arrived. She wore no makeover and she was wearing a sweater with a skirt, not a day dress. Ciara whispered something Percy couldn't ear. He was incredibly tired all of a sudden. His head hurt and he wanted to lie down. Almost as if she'd read his mind, the girl started helping him sit down and then into a laying position. He looked up at her concerned face and tried to smile, but he wasn't sure it came out right. It was hard to keep things straight. "You're pretty." He told her. "What's your name? I'm pretty sure I'd recognize one of my 25 girlfriends."

Behind the girl, Ciara had helped the sniffling Callie to her feet and mumbled something about going to get a doctor. She started running quickly down the hall, with Callie half running, half being dragged behind her. The blonde looked like she kind of wanted to run after them, but she sat on her knees over the Prince.

"Tell me your name." He asked again, firmer this time. The rims around his eyes were going black and his head was very sticky now.

The blonde looked terrified at the thought of speaking, and she took a deep breath before she spoke. "I'm Carlyn, your Highness. Carlyn Gray."

Percy nodded, recognizing the name. He closed his eyes for a second, as if trying to think of what to say next. "Why were you with Ciara? Were you planning on leaving?"

Carlyn shook her head, quickly. "No, no! I had to use the bathroom and I got lost, and I ran into Queen Ciara. She was very gracious and offered to show me to the group, but on the way here we ran into you."

"That's good." He said, absentmindedly. Percy reached up, without really realizing and touched the top of his head. The sticky substance was oozing from a gash on his forehead. He must have hit a corner of the window. "I'm bleeding." He said matter-of-factly. Once he was aware of it, he thought it would hurt. But he was honestly losing feeling of everything. He grabbed Carlyn's hand without truly meaning to, simply to see if he could feel his hand. The girl looked a little taken aback, but she didn't let go.

There were more footsteps from down the hall and Ciara's voice yelling, "This way!", but Percy didn't hear anymore. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Carlyn's concerned face, looking scared for him. Then everything was dark and quiet.

 **Hey everyone! I had so much stress over this chapter, and I didn't want to do airplanes because I'm a unique person and I don't work that way. Anyway, a girl still got introduced and Percy nearly killed himself by drinking a bottle of wine and then hitting his head so hard he passed out. I rewrote this thing 5 times cause I didn't know if you'd like it and I didn't want you to hate me...**

 **I know the girls aren't supposed to meet him until the interviews, but I thought it would be kind of adorable for a girl to help Percy in his time of need, sort of like a reverse Maxmerica scene.**

 **Anyway, I'm supposed to be sleeping but I wanted to write this all day. Blame science for making me write a 12 page paper and taking all freaking day!**

 **Night, guys! Don't forget to review.**

 **~Sora**


	9. I'm Still Breathing

_Waking up in the hospital of the palace was probably not the worst place to wake up_ , Percy thought sarcastically to himself. Sure, it certainly wasn't the best place, but there had to be others that topped this on the list. _A mental facility, for instance_. He shuttered at the thought. He was fine with the hospital, if that was the other option.

The light poured in softly from the window, but it was faint. Percy squinted and made out what he thought to be the sunset. He cursed under his breath. He was supposed to be having dinner with his family, tonight, as it was the last one before the Selected girls would join him. Maybe there was still time. He started to stand up when the door flung up. Courtney's innocent face beamed up at him as she lunged to hug him, her bear cradled in one arm. "Percy!" She tackled him in a hug.

Happy to see his only cheerful sibling, Percy picked her up and swung her around. The little Princess giggled at this, sticking her thumb in her mouth. "Hi, Princess!" He smiled down at her as she asked to be swung again and again. "What are you doing here?"

She played with her bear as she answered. "Mommy sent me down here to get you and tell you it was time to meet the girls. She said something about look 'spectable."

Percy assumed his mother meant "respectable". This was not a new piece of advice from the Queen. Then Courtney's words sunk in, making his eyes widen. He almost dropped her in shock and she squealed in delight, thinking it was part of the game. "Courtney," Percy put his little sister down and crouched down to her height to make sure she understood that what he was about to say was serious. "Why am I meeting the girls today? It's supposed to be tomorrow, remember. After we have the family dinner."

If the little girl understood the urgency in Percy's voice, she certainly didn't show it. She was happily sucking on her thumb, but she did take it out when she replied to her older brother's question, however short her answer was. "Oh, the dinner happened already. You missed it."

"You didn't wait for me?!" Percy was a little offended that his family hadn't waited. Surely they could have postponed dinner by an hour, at least. It looked like it was barely 6 outside.

"Well, we waited for like an hour, but then the doctor told Mommy and Daddy that you should sleep until tomorrow, so we ate and then I went to bed and now it's tomorrow." Courtney was swinging her bear around and it hit Percy in the face since he forgot to duck. Then, suddenly remembering, the Princess asked earnestly, "I can still help meet the girls, right?" Her face sank a slight pout. "'Cause you promised."

"IT'S ALREADY TOMORROW!?" Percy yelled, putting his sister down and looking for something to punch in anger. "I slept for an entire day and a half?! And no one bothered to be like, 'Oh, maybe we should wake him up so he can, I don't know, shower before he meets his future wife'. I suppose they're all in the room waiting, too." He looked at Courtney for an answer, but she wasn't even 6 yet. It wasn't her fault that their family didn't bother to wake him up before one of the biggest days in his entire life. Plus, he needed to find Callie and confront her. He ran a hand through his hair, angrily, looking around for a change of clothes.

Courtney looked confused at his anger. She tilted her head and looked confused. "Were we supposed to wake you up, Percy? The doctors said that you should sleep 'cause you lost a lot of head blood."

Her brother rolled his eyes at this, but she was too cute and angelic to be mad up. "No, baby, it's ok. You go up and tell the girls I'll be right there, ok. Can you do that for me?"

The baby angel nodded, a wide smile on her face. She ran down the hall, pink dress flowing as she did, to deliver the message. Her bear was still clutched in her hands.

Percy walked to the door she'd left through, before pausing for a second. His head hurt, he was starving, and he was pretty sure there was still a gash on his forehead. The Prince gave a big sigh. "Today's starting out great."

/LINEBREAK/

Feeling slightly better in a fresh suit and clean undergarments, Percy pushed open the door to the room where he was supposed to meet his future wife for the first time. He was greeted with the chatter of 25 girls, all sitting in 2 rows towards the left side of the room. On the right side of the room, the girl's advisor, Lady Elliot, stood surveying the room. Her usual look of slight disdain appeared on her face, which made Percy smile inwardly. The Prince knew Lady Elliot and he pitied those girls. She was not a mean woman, but a strict middle-aged one who was a little old fashioned. Three chairs were also on the left side of the room, two together and one adjacent to the two. Courtney had already helped herself to one of the two chairs and she was whispering something to her bear as her brother walked in the room. She looked up as Percy entered and gave him a sweet smile, hugging her bear to her chest happily.

The entrance of the Prince quieted the girls immediately, except for some elbowing and a few squeals. Percy blushed at this. He was fairly confident around young women, but he certainly wasn't used to being fawned over be over two dozen girls at a time. Alex, not that he'd ever particularly noticed them, was always the one the admirers noticed, what with him being the crown prince and all.

Good Lord, he was going to die today. He'd thought maybe he'd get through without embarrassing himself, but that had been before he'd split his head open and slept for a full day. Now, everything was going to come crashing before his eyes. All the girls were going to hate him and they were all going to ask to leave and-

"Your majesty," he heard Lady Elliot ask sharply from the other side of the room. "Perhaps we should quickly explain to the girls what is going to happen and start the interviews quickly, as I'm sure all of them and your, personally, are hungry."

Percy blushed slightly, ears turning red at being caught not paying attention. _Focus_ , he thought as he took a deep breath. _They're just woman_. Staring at some of the girls' rather revealing neck lines certainly was not helping Percy feel any more confident.

He was so dead.

"Er..." Percy finally uttered, uncomfortably aware of how the girls were hanging on his every word. "Hello, Ladies. I'm Prince Perseus, as you all probably know by now." A couple of the girls gave giggles at this like he had said something completely hilarious. The redness in his cheeks grew. "I'll make this quick because I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I'm simply going to call you up individually and have a quick chat with each of you. Sadly, as much as I'd like to get to know each and every one of you in depth, time does not allow that to happen." His confidence grew as he kept speaking. "However, I urge you not to be nervous. I will not be silently judging anything you say to me. It's just a friendly chat to get to know you. Be yourself and I can't wait to meet you."

There. He'd done it. And that hadn't been that bad, right. He hoped he'd sounded fairly confident. Percy had three sisters of different ages and a best friend who was a girl. He should be able to handle women.

Percy walked to his seat and picked up the list of girls from his chair. It was in alphabetical order, most likely arranged by Lady Elliot, but that didn't seem like a lot of fun to him. The Prince knew one of the most important qualities needed in a Royal was being about to think on your feet.

"Lady Monroe Zaley, please." Percy called, praying that he was pronouncing her last name correctly. That would be so awkward if he hadn't.

A tall girl, almost as tall as he was in flats, stood and practically bounced over him with a happy smile on her face. She looked lovely in a cream colored floor length gown that draped only over her left shoulder, leaving her right side bare. A gold design that imitated a belt showed off her slim waist and her dark hair was pulled into a braided crown. The whole outfit made her resemble something close to a Greek goddess and it was a very nice, simple effect in Percy's effect. Lady Monroe beamed at Percy and Courtney, as if they were old friends she hadn't seen in years. Percy stood to bow to her, and hurriedly she curtsied, a little awkwardly. He appreciated the effort, though.

"Lady Monroe." Percy smiled at the girl as he gestured to the seat. "You look stunning."

The girl sat, but was practically bouncing up and down. "Well, thank you, your highness. I can't believe I'm actually talking to you! In the flesh! I never, ever expected to be picked for the Selection when I signed up. I mean, I really, really wanted to, but wanting doesn't really get you things, does it. Like, when I was younger, I really wanted a rainbow unicorn, but I still have yet to get one."

The Prince chuckled at the girl's energy and Courtney was looked like she was going to explode from happiness when she heard the words 'rainbow unicorn'. "I like unicorns!" She squealed, giving another angelic smile towards the girl. Then, turning to her brother and holding her hand up over her mouth, she whispered far too audibly, "I like her! You should marry her!"

Percy blushed at his little sister's comment, but Monroe didn't seem embarrassed. Instead, she burst out laughing. "Hun," she told Courtney, "Your brother is an amazing person and will one day be a great King, but even he needs a little more than two minutes to decide which girl he'd like to marry."

"Well said, Lady Monroe." He said, nodding. Courtney ducked her head, pretending to be embarrassed but mostly she was pouting.

Monroe waved her hand as if swatting away flies or apologies. "And none of this 'Lady' nonsense, either. Just plain Monroe is fine with me, your majesty. Or you can call me Roe, if you'd like. Everyone does."

Checking his watch, Percy saw that the time for the interview was running out. It wouldn't do to get behind schedule on the first girl he spoke to. He stood, smiling at the energetic lady. "Then Roe I shall call you." He joked, gesturing for her to stand. "Sadly, Roe, we are out of time, but I look forward to chatting with you very soon." He leaned down and kissed her hand, the most Princely way he could think of saying goodbye.

The girl giggled at this gesture and, if possible, smiled even more brightly. "If you find any rainbow unicorns before we see each other next, be sure to send them to me."

Percy chuckled at this. "I will be sure to." He told her as the girl bounced back to her seat.

/LINE BREAK/

"Lady Andraste Ward, it's a pleasure to meet you." The Prince told the next young woman he called, this one a blonde with shoulder length curls. He noted that Andraste was as tall as Lady Monroe, but she did not have the same energetic spring to her step as the first girl had. She walked a little more carefully, almost as if she wasn't quite sure if this was where she was supposed to be. Her dress was short, unlike the first girls, skimming just above her knees. It had a white base covered in a pattern of black, tulle flowers. She'd paired them with black flats and a pearl necklace. The effect was pretty, and she certainly seemed to have a much easier time curtsying than Roe had without as much fabric to lift.

"Same to you, your majesty." Andraste replied with a smile to him and to Courtney, as if careful not to exclude her from the conversation. Courtney beamed back at her, but her brother hoped she'd stay fairly quiet during the rest of the interviews. He had enough to deal with without her asking uncomfortable questions.

Percy wracked his brains to remember anything he could about the lady's form. She seemed pleasant, but wasn't exactly giving him anything to work with. Think, think, think! Andraste Ward, caste 7. She was a gardener, he remembered that. But that seemed like a stupid thing to ask her about. Finally, Percy went with the oldest trick in the book. "So, Lady Andraste, tell me about your family."

This was apparently not the question he should have gone with. The poor girl looked heartbroken, staring down at the floor like it was an incredible work of art.

Error messages flashed in Percy's eyes and he desperately tried to backpedal. "Um, I mean, I'm sure your family is great and not criminals or something, so we don't have to talk about them if you don't want to. I mean, you seem nice, so I guess I-" he was blabbering now, and he knew it. But he would feel like even more of a jerk if he'd said something to offend this girl. It wasn't like he'd meant to... Percy had assumed that family would be sort of a safe zone. Everybody liked family, right.

Then again, if someone had asked him that question at the moment, he probably would be heart broken too.

"No," Andraste sniffed, trying to pull herself together. "They're wonderful people. It's just my brother, Garret, died a while ago. He was hit by a car." She started to cry in earnest now, big wet sobs that were easily heard around the room. All the other girls looked over, confused. Whispers were exchanged and Percy felt himself blushing bright red. "He just went out one morning to go to work and... He never came home. It still hurts when anyone asks about my family, like there is a hole in my heart that won't ever be healed.

 _I know how that feels_ , Percy thought bitterly, but he didn't say that to the girl. The Prince just sat there awkwardly, wanting to comfort her, but not exactly sure how. Luckily, his little sister came to his rescue. She stood up and offered Andraste her bear as a source of comfort, before wrapping her small arms around the girl in a hug. "I'm sorry." She told her, her eyes big and round as saucers. "Do you want to go get a tissue?"

The lady nodded and stood, giving a weak attempt at a curtesy to Percy and a small, teary-eyed smile to Courtney before she walked back to her seat. One of the girls met her halfway, putting her arm around her shoulder. Another sprinted for the bathroom, probably to fetch a tissue. The little Princess stayed over with the girls, smiling like an angel and showing them her bear. They all oohed and ahhed over her, and when she made no effort to move back to Percy, the Prince decided to carry on interviews without her.

/LINE BREAK/

"Lady Riley Fay." Percy called, checking the third girl's name off the list. A pretty girl with light, honey-colored hair stood up and made her way towards him, a little apprehensively. She was much more petite than the other two girls, and when he stood to bow to her, she came up to only his shoulders. Riley had a delicate, slim build she'd shown off in a gauzy white dress with black lace designs over the top and her waist. She had a satin belt right above her hips, revealing exactly how thin she was. Her hair was pulled into a side braid with a black headband.

"Good morning, Lady Riley. How are you doing today?" Percy asked as both prince and lady took their seats.

The girl seemed to maul this question over before her eyes lit up in a teasing sort of way. "Umm..." She bit her lip as if she was embarrassed, but he somehow didn't believe she really was. "Well, fairly good. Can I ask you a question, though, your majesty?"

The Prince waved his hand in a nonchalant way. "Please, just call me Percy. And, yes, by all means."

Leaning foreword a little as if eager to know, Riley asked, "What the hell did you say in two minutes to make that girl cry?" She sounded serious, but her eyes were sparkling in a way that Percy took to mean she was just messing around.

His face reddened again. "I, uhh.." He said embarrassedly. "I asked her about her family."

Riley started cracking up. Her laugh was infectious and soon the Prince joined in, once he realized she was laughing for him, not at him. She composed herself and nodded in a mock serious way. "Ooohhh, bad mistake. Family shouldn't be discussed until AT LEAST date number three."

"Where were you before?" Percy crumbled, making the lady chuckle again. He smirked back at her. "So I take it my next question shouldn't be about your family?"

Riley shrugged, but pretended to look aghast. "How dare you!?" She said with a laugh, before turning serious. "I'm just giving you a hard time. As far as I know, family isn't a taboo topic. I don't have a family, though, so it wouldn't be that interesting to discuss."

Eyes widening, the Prince was stunned. "No family at all?" He questioned her, hoping she wouldn't start crying if he brought it up.

Thankfully, she kept herself composed. Waggling her finger reproachfully at him, she scolded him like one might a small child. "Third date, remember. I'm not saying anything until then."

Percy stood, realizing they were out of time. "Fine then," he told her, bending to kiss her hand gently. "But this conversation is not over. I fully intend to discuss this on the third date."

"I'll be waiting, then." Riley laughed once more before she turned and strides back to her seat, a smiling Prince staring after her.

/LINE BREAK/

If there was a word to describe Lady Sara Belle Sanders, it would be 'confident'. When Percy called her name, Sara strolled over to him like she'd already been crowned Queen. Her dress, unlike most of the girls, was tight fitting and sexy. It was short and purple, with a low neckline and a high waist. Percy wondered if she could even breath in that thing, but it became clear quickly by movements of certain... Body parts that she could quite well. She'd paired the dress with black heels, but Percy was, although he'd deny it if caught, not exactly looking at her shoes.

"Your highness." She said in a voice as sweet and silky as honey. She dropped into a low curtesy, but she kept her eyes locked on his. Her dark skin was the color of chocolate, which the purple dress complimented nicely. When she gave him a seductive smile, Percy was suddenly aware that he was sweating. _Oh God_ , he thought, _I hope she doesn't notice_.

"So, Lady Sara." He started, hoping his voice was steadier than he imagined it was. "How are you today?"

The Lady gave him a dazzling smile, the kind worthy of being on magazines. "I'm very well, your majesty." She purred. "But please, do call me Lady Sadie. There's another girl named Sarah here." Her nose wrinkled at this as if she could not stand the thought that someone else shared her name.

"Of course, Lady Sadie." The Prince noted that he did not ask her to drop the word 'Lady' as Monroe had. "If I may so bold as to ask, is that a family name?"

Another dazzling smile. "It's just more of a nickname I've had. There are a lot of Saras, see." As she spoke, she inched closer to the prince. Almost scared, Percy's breath grew increasingly quick. She was not moving in the most modest way possible, and he found it almost impossible to look at where he was supposed to be looking. Sadie came so close that he felt her breath on his face. Lowering her voice as she whispered into his ear, she told him, "I like to be different. Special, one could say."

"I-I" Percy stammered. It wasn't that he was altogether unhappy that she was so close to him, but he was worried about what the other girls would say. He could tell they were watching the interaction between him and Sadie carefully. The Prince tried to look away, but he could see that Sadie was deliberately thrusting her chest at him and it was very difficult to ignore. What was he going to tell her that wouldn't seem... Wrong. _Please get your breasts out of my face?_ Yeah, he didn't think that statement would go over too well. "I think..."

Once again, Courtney came to his rescue, even though she most likely didn't realize it. Apparently having showed all the girls her teddy bear, the little Princess skipped back to her brother and paused to survey the interaction happening between Percy and Sadie. She tilted her head, puzzled, and directed her question towards the girl. "Why are you breathing so hard?"

The other girls started giggling, several of them outwardly laughing. Percy caught Riley's eye, who had her hand over her mouth to hide her laughter, and she winked at him. Sadie flushed scarlet, embarrassed not so much at what she was doing, but at being caught doing it. She stormed back to her seat without so much as another word to the Prince. Percy felt a little bad for her. It was never a great funny to be laughed at, no matter what you did to deserve it.

He gave his little sister a grin and patted the chair next to him. She sat happily and bounced up and down on the chair, eagerly awaiting the next girl.

/LINE BREAK/

Lady Delaney Silvyn-Elis came up still cackling with laughter as she strolled up to Percy. She was a tall girl, with an athletic build. Especially when you compared her to Sadie, this new girl was not a typical definition of stunning. She was muscular and had a look in her brown eyes that challenged anyone who was going to tell her what to do. Her dark blonde hair was pulled half up, half down. She gave an awkward kind of curtsy before she sat down, laughing as she did so. Her light red dress fell just past her knees and gave her a more feminine look then one would perhaps except on a girl.

Before Percy could even say hello, Delaney spoke up. However, her comment was not targeted at him, but at Courtney. "Nicely down, Princess."

Courtney looked confused, turning to look at her brother as if to ask what exactly she had done to deserve praise. "Just say thank you." Percy told her, not feeling like having that discussion with his kid sister. She did, hugging her bear and grinning as she did so.

Delaney gave a smirk at Percy and gave him a look like she knew exactly what he was trying to hide from all of the girls. "So," she said carefully, smirk widening. "You sleep late or did the alcohol knock you out?"

The Prince was shocked. Scarlet in the face, his eyes widened in horror. "You know about that?" He asked, not sure that he exactly wanted to know the answer. He glanced at Courtney, who was trying to follow the conversation. "Is there anyway we could... You know... Not talk about this, right now?"

The girl nodded. "Of course, your majesty." She paused as if considering her next words carefully. "I don't bring it up entirely to tease you about the left side of your hair sticking up." Self consciously, Percy reached up and felt it, but his hair felt normal to him. "Kidding!" She joked, sticking her tongue out slightly at him, which was a daring thing to do, especially to royalty. "But mostly, it leads to my next question."

"Which is?" Percy asked, almost positive that he did not want to hear nor answer it. He ran a hand through his brown hair and tried to steady his heart rate.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and all the teasing fell away from her voice. All that remained was sincerity and actual concern for his wellbeing. This touched Percy. A girl he'd just met and who he'd admitted to drinking in front of cared how he was doing.

What scared him was his answer.

"I honestly have no idea." He admitted, head sinking into his hands. _Keep it togethe_ r, he yelled at himself inwardly, but all of his thoughts about putting his best face on when he met the girls seemed so loud that he was sure the girl could hear him.

Then Delaney did something totally unexpected, especially for the type of girl he had pegged her for when she'd walked up to him. She stood up and crouched before him. Putting her hands gently on both of his shoulders, she leaned down and looked right into his eyes. "It's going to be okay, I promise you. You are going to get through this, because if you're brave." She told him in a voice that showed nothing but utter belief in what she was saying. On a second thought, she added with her smirk returning to her face, "And if you aren't brave, I'll kick your butt for letting me down. I could totally beat you up."

Percy laughed at this, trying to push away rotten thoughts that were making there way into his head, trying to corrupt his mind. "I have no doubts you could, Lady Delaney."

She smiled widely at this, obviously liking the fact the Prince thought she was strong. Lowering her voice as if she was telling him a secret, she whispered, "I might kick have to kick Sadie's before this whole competition is over."

Ashamed that he was cracking jokes about one of the girls in his competition but not wanting to miss the fun, Percy added, "Oh, please don't. She seems like she has enough trouble breathing without being beaten up."

The Prince thought that Delaney was going to fall out of her chair, she was laughing so hard. "I'll keep that in mind." She told the Prince, snickering all the way back to her seat.

/LINE BREAK/

"Lady Raleigh Nina Shelton." Percy called, and for a second he thought he'd read off Riley's name again. Then he released it was a different girl with a different spelling, who walked up to him with a smile, but a shake of her head.

"Let me guess, Lady Raleigh." He smiled and bowed, as she curtsied with grace. Her blonde hair was curled and left loose to bounce around her shoulder. Her face was shattered with freckles, which made her stand out amongst all the other blondes in the Selection. She'd paired a mint green, floor length gown with a sparkly hair clip and white heels. "I pronounced your name wrong."

She giggled at this, taking her seat across from his and giving a little wave to Courtney. "Just slightly... It's RAH-lee, actually, not RI-lee. You were so close though, and everyone makes that mistake."

"Damn the alphabet!" Percy yelled in a much too excited voice for that comment. Actually, it was probably not a comment he should have said in the first place, but what happened was done with and could not be taken back. Luckily for him, Raleigh seemed to think it was hilarious.

First raised in the air like she was commanding a revolution, the Lady cheered with him. "Down with their grammar exceptions." Courtney started giggling. Her brother chuckled too, although he wasn't exactly sure what was happening in the moment. He was definitely not going to be shown up in this rebellion, however. It had been his idea to begin with and he was not going to be outshown by a girl.

Jumping to his feet, Percy practically yelled the next line. "Never shall we answer to their 'I before e rule' again!"

Playing along, Raleigh joined him in standing. The entire room was watching them, the other girls extremely confused by what was happening. Lady Elliot looked like she wanted to drag both of them out of the room and push them off a cliff. Percy wasn't going to admit it any time soon, but that rather made him happy. He'd always been the more rebellious one, as opposed to his twin brother. "LONG LIVE THE NUMBERS!" Raleigh shouted for no apparent reason. All the girls laughed, and a couple, Monroe included in this, gave a whoop or two.

As if nothing had ever happened, both of them sat down at the exact same time, leaving a stunned silence in the room. The Lady smoothed her skirt in an innocent way. Suddenly, both of them burst out laughing.

"Well," Percy said, trying to control himself while Raleigh doubled over in laughter. "That was certainly entertaining."

"Agreed!" She studied him as one might study a particularly interesting outfit choice or piece of art. "You really aren't anything like how I imagined you, your highness." She was pink in the face from laughing so hard.

Percy stood, sad that the time with this girl was up. "I do hope that is a good thing, Lady RAH-lee."

"A very good thing." She assured him before she gave him one last smile and waltzed back to her seat.

/LINE BREAK/

Lady Margoret Medavane looked like she wanted to hurt Percy, which was not something he would really appreciate at the moment. When he called her name, she stood up and gave him the best death glare he'd ever seen. He felt bad, like he might offend her by calling her name, but then he remembered he was now the crown Prince and no one got to push him around.

"Mad" was not a look that matched the girl's outfit. She was strikingly pretty in a rebellious sort of way, with choppy blonde hair that was almost white. Her dark blue dress was form fitting, much like Sadie's, but she didn't look like she had come to seduce Percy. The Prince bowed to her but she just stared him down, not moving, before she took her seat without curtsying.

Not one to lie, Percy was a little afraid for his life.

"So... Umm.. Lady Margoret." He wasn't exactly sure where to began, but he really didn't want to say anything that would get him killed. The girl looked like that was her number one priority in this interview.

She cut him off. "It's just Margo. Call me 'Lady' or 'Margoret' again and I'll break your face."

"Yes, err, I'd prefer if you didn't do that." Percy said, lamely. She was about as feisty as possible, but she was also making him feel alive. He had to be, since there was a chance he might need to run for cover at anytime.

The girl laughed at him, but it wasn't a warm or friendly laugh. It seemed harder than the other girls, like she was making it perfectly clear that they were not friends. "It would be rather amusing to me, watching the Crown Prince scream like a little girl."

Percy leaned back in his seat. He shifted his weight slightly in front of the chair next to him, where his little sister sat. Courtney, apparently not noticing the hostile tone in the girl's voice, leaned forward to watch the drama unfold. Percy coughed. "What is it that I have done to offend you?" He asked, honestly wanting to know.

If Margo had been touchy before, this was the last straw. She burst from her chair and started to yell, apparently not caring that there were 24 other people in the room that might here. "It's not what you've done, it's what you haven't done! I came from a place where I had nothing! Nothing! And I knew people who had it worse! But you, you sit here in your dollhouse of a palace, always being handed things. You've never been hungry for a day in your life. You've never had to beg on the streets to feed a family that relied on you. You've never known a hard day's work in your entire live, you spoiled, overgrown wimp. And you sit here and you expect us to fawn all over you, to grovel on the ground. Well, if that's all you want in a wife, don't expect me to have any part of this stupid competition." She was like a wildfire in her fury, and Percy was on fire, alight in the flame of her passionate words. She was beautiful and dangerous, a deadly combination. But Percy wanted desperately to fight back, to yell at her, but she was so powerful and yet strangely delicate at the same time.

"Goodbye, your majesty." She told him, in a cold, quiet voice that was somehow so much worse than her yelling.

Without another word, she whirled on her heels and stormed away. Not back to her seat, but out of the room. All he could do was stare after her.

/LINE BREAK/

Luckily for Percy, the list of girls he got to interview before he could eat breakfast was thinning and none of them looked as scary as Margo. He could almost taste fresh hash browns and sausages, with pancakes. Oh, how he wished he could just run into the dining room right now. _No, patience_ , he thought to himself, checking the list for the next girl he needed to interview. It was the girl from Midston, Carlyn Blythe Gray.

Wait- Carlyn! Percy's mind thought some very un-princely things as his heart started racing. She was going to hate him. No, she was going to more than hate him. She was going to be furious and call him out in front of all of the other girls. It was going to be even worse than Margo! Most of all, though, she was going to make him tell her what he had been doing with a bottle of wine, screaming at his sister in the middle of the hallway.

The scary part was the fact that he had no idea how to answer that question. And that terrified him more than the thought of facing the girl he'd hit his head and bled in front of.

"Lady Car-Carlyn Gra-Gray." Percy managed to say, even with a small stutter, as he called the girl up to interview her. Carlyn started at her name, slightly, looking like she had been lost in thought. She mumbled something to girl sitting next to her, Snow, who smiled and gave her a slight push towards the him. The girl looked lovely and rather different than when he'd first seen her yesterday. Her hair had been cut from cascading down her back to just above the shoulder. It had been curled and a sparkly diamond clip that looked like a flower shone brightly. Her slim figure accented the silvery dress she wore, which looked remarkably similar to the style of dress Ciara wore. It had layers of sheer fabric in a waterfall from the front, getting longer in the back, and it was covered in white flowers.

With grace, Carlyn walked to him and sat in the chair next to him, giving a shy courtesy to Courtney and himself before she ducked her head and wouldn't make full eye contact with the Prince.

"Err..." Percy began, not entirely sure where to start. In technical terms, he'd met her yesterday. Held her hand, even. Man, that had been a stupid decision on his part. He had been a little light-headed from gulping wine and blood loss, two things that should not go hand in hand with each other. "So, Lady Carlyn... About what happened yesterday. I owe you an explanation. I was just, I don't know, being an idiot. And then my sister came and she-" He looked down as if the explanation was on the ground, but mostly he was to ashamed to look at her.

Before he could finish, he felt the girl place her hand gently on his arm. Percy looked up to see Carlyn give him a shy smile. "It's ok." She whispered softly, looking around like someone was going to scream at her for touching a royal. "You don't have to explain anything."

The Prince was stunned. "I-I don't?" He asked in shock, and Courtney bounced up and down on her seat happily.

"No." Carlyn looked down at her hand, which was still touching Percy's, and withdrew it. The girl blushed furiously, but continued. "Everyone goes through hard times and makes mistakes. The making mistakes part is what makes us human. They're bound to happen. No one ever said we had to justify making them, however. I understand how it can feel like to not know how to explain yourself, and I'll save you the effort. We can simply forget that yesterday ever happened, if you'd like."

Percy sat in awe of how easily this girl was willing to forgive him for his stupid mistakes. He honestly had no words to express his gratitude. Luckily, Courtney covered his stunned silence for him. "What happened yesterday?" She asked, while positioning her bear on her lap as if it too was listening. She gave Carlyn her most angelic smile, her blond curls bouncing around her back.

Carlyn's turquoise eyes looked away, like she was considering how to best answer the young princess's question. Finally, she gave another slight smile. "Nothing, really. What happens today is so much more important."

Finally finding his voice, Percy tilted his head to observe the girl sitting in front of him. She was so much more than he expected. "Thank you." He told her, the most sincere words he could think to say. "And, even if you don't want me to explain, I will apologize. I'm sure catching a fainting prince wasn't exactly how you planned to spend your first day in the palace."

The girl laughed at this. Her laugh was pretty, sweet and warm. "No," she nodded gravely. "If I'm being honest, I was pretty sure I was the one who was going to faint."

"Ah, well. If you ever do, I promise I will catch you and return the favor." Percy joked, as he stood. Sadly, his time was up.

She stood as well, graciously accepting her time to be interviewed was over. "I'll hold you to your promise then, your majesty." She grinned up at him and gave a polite curtesy of fair well.

Percy bowed to her and reached for her hand, stretching it towards him. Carlyn looked confused, but complied with him. Just for the briefest second, he brushed his lips against her knuckles, but that small kiss was enough to make the girl go scarlet. "Please, call me Percy." He told her, releasing her hand. The shadow of his old, playful grin toyed with the corners of his mouth.

Her eyes met his, and though still red in the face, she gave a brighter smile than she had so far. "Percy it is then." She gave the Prince one last smile before turning on her heel and walking back to her seat, leaving a smiling Percy behind her.

 **A/N Hello lovelies! This was a freaking enormous chapter, but I'm really proud of it. I love all the girls in this Selection, and this was really my first chance writing with them. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this.**

 **Shoutout to Lily for being a good friend and encouraging me, albeit forcefully, to update xD.**

 **Next chapter, interviews will continue, and then... THE FIRST DATE YAY! I won't give anything away *smirks***

 **Love you all! Please review!**

 **~Sora**


	10. Superheroes

Chapter - Superheroes

 **Look! I'm alive! I know, I know. It's been a while since the last update. In my defense, I've been busy with school and the play and my horse. So yeah.**

 **Hopefully you don't all hate me for that and... This chapter xD**

 **I hope no one saw it coming, though I did warn some of you that it might not be what you expected.**

"Cause they've taken too much hits

Taking blow by blow

Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode"

The growling of his stomach turned Percy's thoughts away from Carlyn and to breakfast. He needed to focus on the next name on the list and get a move on. The Prince was more than a little sure that the girls were probably just as hungry as he was. And some of them had probably never had a full meal in their entire lives. That thought made him feel guilty and he quickly engulfed himself with trying to chose the next girl.

But before he could make any selection on which girl to meet next, the ear-splitting ring of an alarm disrupted the silence of the room. A few girls screamed, clutching onto each other in fear and surprise. Others used their hands to cover their ears in a vain attempt to drown out the high pitched wailing. The level of excitement in the room had doubled and the Prince observed many eyes resembling a deer in the headlights.

To Percy and Courtney, there was nothing new about this drill. However, consoling 35 girls was a slightly new twist to the matter. They were already starting to panic, whimpering and crying. It was a scary sound. The Prince looked around and didn't see any guards coming to console them. It must be a drill, then, though it was awfully poor timing.

Standing up and attempting to calm his heart rate, Percy addressed the girls. He spoke carefully, choosing his words very selectively in order to best emulate peace. "Ladies. Please remain calm. That alarm is the general alarm. I have grown up hearing that far too often in my lifetime. I assure you that you are all perfectly safe. It is most likely either a drill we had forgotten to inform you of, or one of the staff accidentally opening an alarmed door. It is surprisingly easy to forget which ones are which, I tell you. Please just remain calm and seated. Someone, I'm sure, will be here soon to tell us what to do."

The ladies seemed reassured by his speech, which was good as he was not all together comfortable with trying to reassure a horde of young women. Luckily, they all sat back down and quieted. Looking back at his sister, the Prince caught the confusion in Courtney's big, blue eyes.

Quietly, so the girls could not hear them, he whispered to his sister. "What's wrong?"

She turned to him, head still tilted in confusion. Mimicking his soft tone, she replied, "Where are they, Percy?"

"Where are who, Court?" He asked her, brow furrowing. Though she was only six, his little sister often had times of being incredibly wise for her age. If she was worried about someone not being here, it might have more weight than a normal six-year-old's opinion.

Her blue eyes were wide when she replied. "The men who come to tell us it's ok or to hide."

Percy assumed she meant the guards. The Prince had honestly been wondering the same question himself, but he wasn't certain of the answer. However, he did feel the need to console her, so he leaned down to put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against his waist.

"It's going to be ok." The words were barely out of his mouth.

And then the world went black.

hr

Screams.

The entire palace was black. It was as if the sun had suddenly died. Even the sunlight seeping through the windows was barely enough to illuminate the dark shadows of objects. Everyone was blindly looking for others, the staff not having been trained enough for a complete palace blackout. There was supposed to be a generator in the Illéan palace. But that remained off and the castle remained dark. No one was prepared for the blackness.

No one, except for those who had created it.

The soft glow of a flashlight illuminated just enough of the surroundings so that the two figures could see. They kept perfect pace with each other as they made their way towards their destination. Their faces were partly covered with dark hoods, masking some of their appearance, but not enough to hinder the sight. And, perhaps sadly for them, not the sound.

"Forgot it? What do you mean you forgot it, Jinx? That was literally the only thing you had to remember to bring!" The figure on the left whispered angrily to his partner. His coffee-colored skin made his ambery eyes more pronounced in the flashlight's wake, and his whole facial expression was not of a man who was extremely happy with the circumstances.

The other boy, Jinx, held up his empty hand in defense. "Uhhh..." He tried to justify awkwardly. "I... Missy forgot to remind me, ok!"

"She's four years younger than you! She shouldn't have to remind you to bring the freaking tracking device with you? What are we supposed to do now? Little hard to find places to plant listening devices when we can't even track cameras that might be watching us right now, not to mention the metal swords and badges the guards wear." The first figure was not exactly whispering now.

Putting a finger to his lips, the second boy gave a glare to his partner. "Trotter, keep your voice down. If your noise leads the guards right to us, it really won't matter if I forgot the listening devices, now will it?" Jinx increased his pace, eager to get to where the two believed the King's study was. That was there mission after all.

At least, their part in the mission.

hr

As soon as Percy's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he did a head count. First, he made sure Courtney was safe by his side before he checked on his girlfriends. Trying to sound calmer than he felt, he ordered the girls to press against the walls for protection. The Prince wasn't exactly sure this was the correct safety procedure for rebels or if he was remembering something from the Earthquake Safety Class, but he had bigger issues on his mind.

He only counted 34 girls.

Outwardly, he tried to keep his calm(ish) exterior, but inwardly he was cursing like a sailor. Percy tried again. Still only 34. How was that possible? No one had been in or out since the power was cut. He might not have been able to see, but he was almost positive that he would have heard the sound of a girl's heels, not to mention the sound of the door opening and closing.

So where was the 35th girl? Desperately, he wracked his brains for who was missing, but in his panic he was having a hard time putting names with faces. Meredith was there, looking a little shellshocked. Riley and Monroe seemed to be working together to try and keep the other girls upbeat, or at least not sobbing like some of them had started doing. He quickly counted the girls he had interviewed so far, just to make sure. Yes, they were all present and accounted for. All except for...

Percy's heart dropped out of his chest.

Margo.

The girl who had yelled at him, had captivated him so much in her dangerous way of beauty. He'd forgotten she'd stormed out of the room after her hate speech directed at him. Now, she was out there on her own, defenseless. Okay, maybe not defenseless as she had seemed to be perfectly capable of breaking his face. But, still. Percy didn't know what type of rebels were in the palace, but since the blackout, he was aware of one thing. They were prepared. And the Royals weren't.

There was only one thing to do. Pushing the shaking Courtney into the nearest girl's arms, a blond that he had yet to talk to, he stared into her greenish eyes. "Keep the Princess safe for me." His voice was firmer than he had expected. The girl nodded, as if she understood somehow what he was about to do.

Before he could lose his nerve, Percy stood and ran to the door. Flinging it open, he prayed silently that his knowledge of the countless secret staircases and hallways could be counted on now to keep him safe. He had to stay safe for Margo.

For Illéa.

hr

"Shut down the generator, they said. It'll be easy, they said." The boy wore the same black cloak as the other two figures, but he was noticeably younger than his comrades, looking barely 18. He was by himself, in yet another endless stretch of palace.

Not caring about anything else, he stopped and yelled at the ceiling, "Why the hell did they make all the palace corridors look the same?!"

It was then he heard the approaching sound of running footsteps. Quickly, the boy ran to the closest door he could find. Turning the handle, he said a quiet thank you that it was unlocked. He was just able slip into the doorway and flip off his flashlight before the footsteps reached the stretch of hallway he was in. He closed the door silently and hoped the guards or whoever the people outside were wouldn't think to check the hallway.

The boy turned away from the door and, smirking slightly, congratulated himself on his quick thinking plan.

It was then he noticed the girl standing right in front of him, brandishing a lamp like it was a sword.

"Ahh!" He yelled, so shocked by her sudden appearance that he stumbled backwards and almost fell. Slowly, he held up his hands in front of himself, a sign of peace.

The girl stared at him curiously, as if she didn't know what to make of him. Her long, blond hair cascaded down her back and her blue eyes seemed to sparkle, even in the darkness. The boy was suddenly aware of a flush rushing to his cheeks and cursed himself for turning red in front of a beautiful girl. Then, the realization hit him that it was fairly dark in the room and she most likely couldn't see him that well. Inwardly, he congratulated himself again for being able to figure out the confusing array of buttons on the generator. The others had brought him along because they thought he was a genius when it came to mechanics. Truthfully, he just pushed the red button, if there was one. Consistently, he was surprised at how often his technique worked.

"Who are you?" The girl's voice jolted the boy from his thoughts and slightly closer to her.

Continuing to hold out his arms, he inched towards her. "Please, I mean you know harm, I promise. I-" He suddenly got close enough that even in the darkness, he recognized her. "You! You're- you're the Princess."

It was painfully obvious now, to the boy, and he was surprised he hadn't recognized her at first glance. Prince Callisa was even prettier in person that she was on the Report.

The Princess looked at him, not with fear or anger, but with slight amusement. "No, really?" She asked with biting humor in her tone. "I hadn't noticed before. Now, if you're going to kill me, I suggest you get on with it, unless your goal was to wait for the guards. If that's the case, I'd suggest maybe getting some better goals." Her voice didn't seem malicious. There was even a hint of something that the boy had to work hard to detect. Then, it hit him like a rock.

The Princess of Illéa, the girl that he and his comrades had sworn to hate, was teasing him.

And, good Lord, she was so pretty. The boy was only a few feet apart from her now, and his eyes had slowly adjusted to the blackness of her room. He found it odd her curtains were drawn, obscuring most of the light. Perhaps she had simply not had time to open them since the blackout.

Callisa held her ground as rebel approached her. In her chest, her heart pounded so loudly she was sure he could here it. But she held her head up high. Princesses were not supposed to be afraid. And besides, the man in front of her didn't look like he could do her much harm. Part of his appearance was shrouded in the dark hood he wore, but his alabaster skin tone shone softly in the blacked room. She had seen rebels before, albeit never this close, but she didn't feel the sense of fear she usually did when the palace was attacked.

Suddenly, there was a blue light that shone directly into her eyes. "Ow!" Callie yelped, stumbling backwards and tripping over the train of her dress. The next thing she was aware of was being on the ground with a dull ache on her backside and the figure's rushed apologies.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Came the man's voice. Finally able to see him in the flashlight beam, the Princess realized that the man was not a man at all. He was a boy, her age or maybe a year older. His hood had fallen down as he scrambled to help her up, revealing his dark, shaggy hair. It was a little longer than anyone would allow in the palace, and he had big, brown eyes that resembled the look of a spooked doe. The left side of his face was racked with what she thought was a scar, but when she looked closer she saw it was painted on. A messy, capital-A with a circle around it. "Are you alright, your highness?" The boy asked, making Callie focus on what was actually happening. The rebel was crouched on the floor before her, real concern filling his eyes. She almost laughed at the irony of this. Here she was, in a family with fiv-four siblings with scars on her wrists from cutting, and none of them had noticed. And here was this boy with the mark that proclaimed him a rebel, actually concerned for her wellbeing, or so it seemed.

He was offering his hand to help her up, she realized, and, not wanting to be rude, she took it. The boy lifted both of them from the ground, but did not release her hand immediately. He stared at her hand in his for a moment, before dropping it suddenly and jumping back as if she was on fire. "I'm sorry," he apologized again, this time for an unknown reason to Callie. "I wasn't- errr, I mean- I'm not..." His tongue tripped over words like his feet might a doormat.

"Supposed to be touching the Princess of Illéa?" Callie decided to help him out, although she wasn't sure exactly why. She felt a sort of strange, giddy feeling when she looked at the boy in front of her. His brown eyes still had a spooked look to them, but he gave her an innocent, cheeky grin.

"Right!" He said, jovially, perhaps happy that he hadn't had to be the one to come up with the actual thinking. "I'm already the youngest, 'cept for Missy. I spent a lot of time trying to convince them to let me come on this mission. If I goes back and tells them I met the Princess and that, uh, well, I didn't exactly dislike her or something, I'm gonna get in big trouble." As he talked, the boy relaxed and some type of an accent poked through his words. Callie figured it might represent where he came from, or perhaps just the level of education he'd received. Nevertheless, it was a little endearing to watch his cheeks flush and his eyes not being able to look into hers directly.

"How old are you?" She asked, partly curious and partly distracting herself from staring at the boy's muscles and what she believed might be the starting of a six-pack under his not quite fitting shirt. He gave her a look like he thought she might be inspecting him and she waved her hand. "If you don't want to hurt me, I don't want to hurt you either." She used her foot to kick the lamp she had dropped when she had fallen farther away.

The boy nodded. "I'm eighteen, this April. And, my name's Glyph, by the way."

Callie raised her eyebrow. "Glyph?" She questioned. "Is that a family name?"

Instantly, she knew she'd said the wrong thing. If he'd been pink before, now the boy was scarlet in the cheeks. "Umm..." He bit his lip, as if not quite wanting to spill. "It's... A code name."

"Oh." Callie suddenly felt cold. She'd almost forgotten. He was still a rebel. A handsome, young, polite rebel, but still, a rebel. And they couldn't be trusted.

There was an awkward pause. If Callie had to guess, she'd say that the boy, Glyph, was probably thinking around the same things about her. Rebels didn't belong with princesses. It just wasn't a way of life. Not in Angeles, not in Illéa. Not in the world.

"You should go..." The Princess instructed, turning her head away so she didn't have to see his wide, doe eyes. It had been only 5 minutes and she didn't even know his real name, but already her heart was heavy at the prospect of him leaving. She wanted to tell him to stay, but it would be safer for both of them if they were to just pretend this had never happened.

Glyph nodded, seemingly understanding. He started to back away towards the corridor. He paused, still facing the Princess. For a second, she thought he was going to refuse to leave. But then, he gave an awkward little bow and then, in a flash, he was out the door and the wooden frame had creaked softly shut after him. As if he had never been there.

Except.

Except for the small, silver outline that Callie could see, right in front of the door. With caution, as if it might attack her, she moved towards the shape on the ground. Her hand shaking, she picked it up. It was a small, silver necklace with a rectangular tag. A dog tag, she was aware of. Some of the Illéan guard carried them, although that practice was not as common as it had been many years ago.

This one simply bore one word. It was hard to see in the dark, so she had to run her finger along the indented letters, just to be sure of what it said. Though she had no idea if the boy had meant to leave it for her or not, she had a feeling he had. It was a clue, a small one perhaps, but a clue to finding him again. Because, on this tag, she had a name. Not a code name, but a real name.

Gideon.

hr

Percy ran down hallway after hallway in the dark, before he finally stopped to catch his breath. "I. Hate. Girls." He wheezed, wishing that this stupid Selection had never happened, that Margo hadn't yelled at him, that he hadn't run after him, and most of all, that dress shoes had more arch support than his pair did. He went on ranting more, to himself, about girls and the Selection and certain things being a pain. In fact, Percy didn't stop until he ran into something.

Or, he thought as he was staring into a pair of dark blue eyes, someone. In the dull blue light of the figure's flashlight, Percy could make out three things.

The figure had a hood over part of it's face and hair.

There was an A within a circle painted on the figure's left cheek.

And perhaps the most unusual of all was the fact that the figure was holding a finger up to it's mouth, the symbol for silence. It stared at him and then pointed into a small alcove behind a statue just to Percy's left. Then, it turned back to point at him.

She's telling me to hide, the Prince was aware of. Not sure he wanted to follow her advice, but also fairly certain he didn't want to die, Percy ducked into the nook and tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible. The figure's impossibly blue eyes followed him for just a second before it turned. As it turned out, Percy had shielded himself just in time. Two more bright, blue lights appeared down the end of the hallway and a gruff, male voice called out, "Missy? Is that you?".

Slowly, with one more glance back at Percy, the figure in front of him did something strange. It reached back and flipped her hood off it's head. "Yes," it said in a distinctly feminine voice. "I'm here."

It was then Percy realized that his savior was a girl. A rather young girl, with long dark hair. She looked to be slightly younger than any of his Selected, maybe 16 at the most. Her luminous blue eyes traced back to Percy as the figure of two, much larger figure's made their way down into the hallway. The girl shook her head at him, an infinitesimal amount.

Don't. Move.

 **It's late, so goodnight! Sorry again for the delay. Please don't hate me for not doing interviews...**


	11. Half an Hour

Percy didn't even dare to breathe as he watched the two figures draw closer and closer to the girl in the black hood. They obviously were in the same group, as they acknowledged each other as companions would. When both figures reached her, the flashlight illuminated the three enough for Percy to make out the details. The two newcomers were male, one with tousled black hair and the other with short, brown hair. The second boy's hair matched the exact same shade of the girl, Missy's, color. The two also had the same eye color.

Siblings, Percy would have bet money on. The boy was obviously much older than his sister, looking to be about Percy's age. However, it was the other boy who addressed the girl. "Any sign of the guards or the royals?' He asked. It was the same voice that had called from earlier.

Percy sucked in a breath. Is this why she had asked him to hide? To make a dramatic reveal later on? Somehow, the Prince doubted it. He inched closer towards the alcove wall just in case, though.

"No." The girl shook her head. "No sign of anyone. I made sure of that. I found the room, though, and I did what you asked." Percy watched the two boys nod. The dark haired boy clapped a hand on Missy's shoulder in affection.

"Good job, girly. Now, as long as Glyph didn't screw up and get lost again, we should be good. Let's go." He started to turn around, but Missy grabbed his shoulder, quickly.

Inventing fast, she whispered, "We should split up again." She was meet with a look of confusion between both of the males. "What?" She adopted an annoyed tone, as if exasperated the boys didn't get it. "It would be less suspicious if three of us are caught." The girl didn't add a "Duh" at the end, but she may as well have. It was clear from her tone.

Luckily, both boys accepted her plan. The dark-haired one, who appeared to do most of the talking, gave her an approving nod. "Good plan, Missy. See," he turned to his fellow. "That's why we bring your sister along, Midas. She's got the brains in the family."

The other boy, Midas, rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything to defend himself. "Let's just get out of here." He told them, with an eye roll, and turned down the hallway. Turning his head slightly, he called over his shoulder, "See you soon, Missy." With a last smile, the other boy turned and followed his companion down the hallway they'd come from.

As soon as they were out of view, the girl dropped some of her composure and heaved a huge sigh of relief. Then, her blue eyes swiveled to focus on the alcove and on the Prince as he rose to his feet, a little apprehensively. As he rose, the girl seemed to lose her nerve and dropped her eyes.

Giving a small curtesy, she whispered, "Your majesty."

Percy almost laughed at the irony. "You don't have to curtesy, you know. I mean, you did kind of just break into the palace. That usually disbands the formalities."

Missy blushed pink, but looked up at him. The most surprising part about her was her eyes, which shown with innocent, adoring admiration. "Oh... Yeah."

Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, the palace was illuminated with the dull lights of the backup generator. Percy was able to see the girl even more. She had freckles scattered all over her cheeks. She might be a little older than what he'd first imagined, as her impossibly blue eyes seemed to have some kind of otherworldliness to them. She was definitely pretty, in a young, girlish way. Her cheek with the paint on it was even more noticeable. A capitalized "A" inside a circle. The girl also had designs up and down her arms, though Percy somehow doubted that it had anything to do with where she came from. These were more doodles, flowers and hearts and words that he couldn't read from where he stood.

As she stood and stared at him like he was a god, Percy found himself squirming. He was acutely aware of the need to return to the girls and find Margo. And then there was his family. His parents, his brother and sisters. Were they alright? Had they been hurt or lost in the dark?

But this girl just kept staring at him like he was an idol to her, and he did not like it. He, Percy, was no one's idol. He was the second twin and he was never supposed to be king.

So why did this girl stare at him as if she put her hopes into him.

Finally, he broke eye contact. Percy couldn't stand it anymore. "Thanks." He said lamely, hoping that if he thanked her, she might take the hint and go.

"Oh," the girl lost her nerve once again. Then, she suddenly beamed at him. "No problem." Shouts echoed down the corridor. Percy recognized the sounds.

"It's the guard." He managed to get out, looking backwards. He was about to tell the girl to run, but then he realized she was already halfway down the hallway. Good Lord, she was fast. Right before she was out of his sight, she paused and blew a kiss in his direction. Then, blushing fuchsia and giggling, she was out of sight down the corridor.

Just in time, too. The guards ran up from behind him and found him staring down the corridor. "Your majesty?" One of them asked him. "Are you alright?"

Shaking his head away from thoughts of the girl, he blinked and looked at the five guards surrounding him. _Pull yourself together_ , he thought. "Yes, I'm fine. Is my family? The girls?"

The guards all nodded at him. The head, a dark skinned man with a shaven head addressed him. "Yes, your majesty. As far as we've found, the rebels did not hurt anyone in the attack. A few members of staff reported minor injuries when the lights went out, dropping things or crashing into walls. But the Royal family has been accounted for, as well as the Ladies in the Selection."

"All of them? There was a lady missing when the blackout happened." Percy asked, heart suddenly beating rapidly in his chest.

The man nodded. "Yes. Lady Margoret was found in a corridor fairly close to the Women's Room, where she'd apparently run to. She was a little shaken up, but not hurt. She is resting in her room now. The other ladies are waiting in the Women's Room for you. I'm sure they would appreciate it if you came to relieve them of concern. The majority were very worried when you ran off, I am told."

Percy wasn't really listening to what he was saying. He knew the girls would be worried. They had barely been in the palace for a day before the first rebel attack, or at least what he took to be a rebel attack. He'd never paid that much attention in history, let alone to the history of the Selection, but Percy was pretty sure that was some kind of a record. It was his job to console them. They were his girlfriends after.

And yet, there was something he needed to do first.

Turning to the guard, he ordered, "Please tell the ladies that I will be with them shortly. There's something I have to do, first." The men all bowed curtly before turning on their heels and making their way to relay the message. As soon as they left, Percy made his way down to the hallway where the Selected girls had their bedrooms.

A maid, young and blond, was carrying a laundry basket in her arms as she passed Percy. "Excuse me." He called politely, making the maid jump and turn around, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Can you tell me which one of these rooms belongs to Lady Margoret, please?"

The maid calmed down at the simple question and pointed down the hallway. "It's four doors down, your majesty, on the left. I believe it has a pot of red flowers next to the door on an end table."

"Thank you very much!" Percy smiled at her and she curtsied, and they both parted ways in opposite directions. He continued walking a few more steps before he reached the door on the left with the red flowers, poppies he believed, standing in an ornate vase on the end table, just as the maid had said. Taking a deep breath, he held his hand on the door, preparing himself to knock on the door of the one girl in the Selection that openly hated his hugs. At least, the one he had met so far.

I am going to die, he thought bitterly to himself. But he owed her an apology... He was pretty sure. She hadn't exactly said why she hated him, but Percy couldn't stand anyone being mad at him, much less one of the 35 girls he was supposed to marry. "Here we go." He whispered to himself before he let his knuckles rap smartly on the three times.

There was no answer for a moment. A heartbeat. Enough of a pause that Percy's insides froze, the butterflies in his stomach suddenly falling like bricks. Had he gotten the room wrong? Was she not there? Had she already packed her things and gone home?

And then the door was pulled open and another maid, this one slightly older than the last, opened the door. "Your majesty!" She breathed in shock, dropping instantly into a low curtesy. "What brings you here?"

"Uhhh..." Percy suddenly lost his train of thought. He had looked past the maid into the room and seen Margo's back, her choppy, blond hair cascading around her shoulders as she lay on her bed. She hadn't appeared to have noticed him yet. "Uh, yes. This is Lady Margo's room, correct?" He asked, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. To be honest, Percy wasn't exactly sure why he had come to see Margo. He knew it was almost certainly going to end in disaster. But yet, like an idiot, here he was.

The maid beamed at him brightly, but her ambery eyes held a hint of surprise. "Why yes, your highness! This is Lady Margo's room." The woman cleared her throat, causing Margo to look up at him from her spot on the bed. "Miss, the Prince is here to see you."

It looked like it took some restraint for the girl to not roll her eyes. "Thanks, Iris. I can see that, somehow."

The maid, Iris, flushed slightly before curtsying and excusing herself from the room. Percy almost wished she hadn't left. Without her, it was just himself and Margo... Alone. From the look on her face, she wasn't as pleased as Iris had been. In the back of his mind, he wondered if he'd emerge from the room with a broken nose, or worse. He hoped not. It would be a shame to spend yet another night in the hospital wing. His stomach growled. He'd almost forgotten he still hadn't eaten.

"Well?" Margo asked, sliding up into a sitting position. Percy noted that it wasn't the most regal of all time, with her legs crossed. She'd abandoned her heels. Her blue dress hugged her body, displaying her formation very nicely, Percy noticed before mentally kicking himself for noticing. As if Margo didn't seem to have enough reasons to hate him. "What do you want, your majesty?" She drew the last two words out in a sarcastic tone that sounded like a knife might feel.

Please, he begged himself. Don't pass out. He had never been good at talking to women, at least not one on one. Percy was fine speaking to crowds, but as soon as he could see individual faces, he tended to lose his nerve. "Um," the Prince started, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Stupid, stupid, stupid. "After the rebel attack, I mean."

The girl raised an eyebrow at him. "You call that an attack?" She questioned him, tone telling him that he hadn't needed to worry. "They turned off the lights for four and a half minutes before the guards had eliminated the threat. What was I going to do? Go crying to my mother or run away home? I don't think so. So, if you want a girl who's going to be afraid of the dark or want a big, strong man to protect her, you're wasting your time here with me." The blonde stood up at this line and strutted up to him. Even barefoot, she was still fairly tall, coming up to his eyes. Her grey eyes bored into him and if looks could kill, Percy would be a dead man.

"I just thought..." Percy held up his hands in defense. "I thought maybe if I apologized to you, you might not hate me as much. I'm sorry you don't like me! I'm sorry you're here, if you don't want to be. I wish I could make you happy, I do. I don't want to make anyone unhappier. I don't know the true reason that you dislike me, Margo, but I swear to God, I am sorry for whatever I did." By the time he finished, he felt much more solid and grounded, sure of himself.

Margo had frozen in front of him, anger mixed with confusion displayed across her face. Then, she turned away from him and stormed back to the bed. "Go." She yelled, not looking back at him.

"Wait, what?" Percy was incredibly confused. He'd expected to be punched in the jaw. Now Margo looked like the fight and the resolve had all been washed away. She refused to turn back to face him.

"You heard me! I said go!" The girl yelled, arms folded across her chest and back still turned to him.

Making a stupid move, Percy moved forward and tried to grab her arm. He wanted her to look at him. Furiously, Margo ripped her arm away from him, flipped around, and pushed him backwards off of her. Surprisingly, her eyes were swimming with tears that hadn't yet fallen. "I said go!" She hissed. "Why can't you just leave me alone? You have thirty four other beautiful, normal girls to go fall in love with. And yet you come here and try to apologize. You're a Prince, for God's sake. You could have any girl in Illéa that you wanted. And yet you're so God damn... Good I don't even know what the hell to think anymore." She almost broke down at the last part before giving him a watery glare. "Go!" She yelled again, and this time Percy listened.

As he walked down the hall, away from her room, he was almost in shock. That wasn't how he was expected the conversation to go at all. Then again, he wasn't sure that was entirely a bad thing. He hadn't meant to make her cry, but she at least thought he was 'Good'. That had to count for something, right.

He needed to talk to someone, right away. Usually, his go to was Ciara when she was in the palace, and Callie when his best friend was back in Ireland. But, at this moment, Percy didn't want to be around either. He had other options, now, anyway. There were 35 girls in the palace and one of them was going to be his future wife. He'd only interviewed a few before the rebels, but he had two options in his mind out of those few girls he knew. Now, it was just a matter of choosing who.

Percy wasn't exactly sure how long he'd wandered, but he found himself passing another servant, this time a butler. He called out to the man and received directions to both girls rooms. Turning back around the way he'd come, he came to a dead end past Margo's door, with the girl's rooms on both sides. Now, it was just a matter of which way he was going to go. Left. Or right.

He decided to go left. Something in his gut told him the girl he wanted to see would be there. The butler had also told him the girls had already been sent back to their rooms and given breakfast. Hopefully, he wouldn't be interrupting her.

He passed five doors and then turned to the door at the very end of the left hall. Again, just as he had done at Margo's door, he paused and took a breath. Then, Percy knocked on the door.

When the door opened only a moment after he'd knocked, Percy knew he'd made the right choice. The blonde herself answered the door. Her eyes widened and she gave a small, hesitant curtesy. "Your majesty." She breathed, giving him a smile. "What can I do for you?" She asked cheerfully. "I certainly hope this isn't bad news." Her tone was teasing, but Percy could hear worry in her voice.

Quickly, the Prince put her nerves to rest. "Not at all, I assure you. I do have a question for you, however. Would you care to accompany me for a walk? We could go around the gardens or the Butterfly Pavilion, or anywhere you'd like."

The smile he got in return from the girl set Percy's heart aglow. "Right now?" She asked eagerly, beaming like a child on Christmas.

Percy couldn't help chuckling. The Lady's enthusiasm was infectious. "Whenever you're ready, but perhaps we should wait a few minutes. I should check with the guards to make sure it's safe to be outside in certain parts."

"Ok!" The girl had a slight flush in her cheeks from her sudden smiling. "I-" she looked down at her heels and long dress. "I should probably change, or risk falling on my face in front of the Prince of Illéa."

"Oh, I doubt you would. How about I meet you back here in say, half an hour?" Percy asked, just as excited as she was, now. He finally felt confident he'd made the right choice.

Lady Riley nodded. "Half an hour." She confirmed, before giving him one last smile and closing the door.

 **There we go, ladies and gentleman (mainly just ladies, though, I'm pretty sure). The first date. As you might of guessed, I did have two girls I had a hard time choosing between, which is where the whole right or left thing came from. Originally, I was going to give it to the other, but when I went back and read reviews from the interview chapter, Riley was by far one of the favorites and most people said they wanted to see more of her. So, hopefully I made the right choice. It was also potentially going to be Margo, but I felt like she and Percy weren't quite there, yet.**

 **I might die from AP testing and studying, but I'll hopefully update soonish. Sorry, this wasn't the longest chapter of all time, but it needed to be written. Next chapter will be the date, and then Percy might be doing some catch-up interviews, musical chairs at dinner.**

 **Also, Missy is probably one of my favorite characters so far, or my own characters. She's like so cute and like Percy's personal fangirl. And, don't worry. There will be more of Gideon and Callie, don't worry. :)**

 **Until next time!**

 **~Sora**


	12. Feathers and Falling

**I know, I know... It's been FOREVER since I've updated. In my defense, I've had a lot of things going on. Some good, some not as good, but anyway. I'm updating now and that's really what matters. So Percy and Riley's date is in this chapter, and I rewritten it approximately 293 times because I just couldn't settle on what I wanted to happen. I was originally going to do a much more lighthearted kind of thing, but that really seemed out of place with what I already have going for this story.**

 **Thank you guys for reviewing, following, and favoriting, as I don't say it nearly enough. I know this story is a whole lot of chaos, and it sometimes seems like I might be giving up, since I never update. I promise you this story will have an ending, and maybe even a sequel (no promises though). But, you are all the best and I love you.**

 **Shoutout to Shades, Ruby Casablanca (though she doesn't actually read this xD), and Star for updating their stories and making me want to (have to, really) update mine. Also, if Amanda's reading this, you're next ;)**

 **Anyway, here you go. I really hope you like it, even though I don't think this is nearly as good as it could be. I do like what I ended up with, though, even though it's different from most first dates in SYOC stories. It's definitely very bittersweet, which is what I was going for in all honesty. So, yeah.**

 **Heavily inspired by the Glee version of the song "True Colors" and "H.O.L.Y" by The Florida Georgia Line.**

"Sometimes when you heart is broken, the pieces you need to fix it can only be shards of somebody else's."

Thirty minutes was an awfully short period of time, when one really stopped to think about it. Having only enough time to scarf down a blueberry muffin his butler had given him and change into something a little more appropriate with a nicer tie, Percy was regretting not setting his date with Lady Riley for later in the day. Then, he, or more than likely Ciara, could have planned something far nicer than a walk around the gardens. It was too late now, however, for second guessing himself. Straightening his tie in the mirror, Percy gave his reflection a hard look.

"Please don't mess this up." The Prince instructed himself. "This is important, and not just for you... For Mom and Dad, and the kingdom. And... I'm talking to the mirror. Great." Percy massaged the brink of his nose. He could almost feel his sanity ebbing away by the second.

Oh, he was going to make a complete fool of himself.

The "pep talk" Percy had given himself was very similar to the ones her maids were giving Riley, as they scrambled about attempting to make last minute adjustments. They had decided that she needed to wear a new dress, as the long one she had been wearing wasn't appropriate for a stroll in the gardens. All three of them tore around the room, looking for one thing or another that ended up being in plain sight while yelling a fairly standard set of advice, to both the Lady and each other.

"Betts, for God's sakes, make sure her hair is down. No one needs to see the feather tattoo until she's already married to him." Padma, the head maid yelled. From what Riley could tell, Padma seemed to be very good at giving orders and far less talented about having a sense of humor. The Lady's eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of one of the three tattoos she had. Riley wasn't ashamed of her past or feel that she needed to cover up who she was. Unfortunately, her maids thought differently, and the small heart she had inked right below her collar bone had already been covered with a thick layer of foundation, and the same was being done with the one behind her left ear. The third one was on a location she hadn't planned on showing on many occasions. The maid that Padma had spoken too, Betts, nodded as she adjusted Riley's loose curls over the offending spot.

"Now, remember." The head maid continued, straightening a few wrinkles in the fabric of Riley's gauzy dress. "Be on your best behavior. This date is important for all of Illéa, so don't go screwing anything up. He's the Prince, so make sure you're extra polite, too."

Riley was really not a person who liked to be told what to do, but she held her tongue. Besides, Padma was right. This date was a big deal. There would be cameras and reporters, not to mention a Prince to impress. What if she couldn't do it? What if she started rambling about something? What if he didn't like her? And what if he did, and he tried to do something she wasn't comfortable with? Images flashed through her head, all of ways the date could go wrong. What if she tripped and fell on her face? Riley had chosen to pair the new dress with flats, but she was not known for being the most coordinated individual. If she fell on this date, she would be the laughing stalk of all of Illéa.

Getting ready for the interview hadn't been nearly as scary. She wasn't alone with him, and all the other girls were going to have to do the same thing. But now, when she had been picked first out of 35 girls to have the first date with the crown Prince... Riley was more nervous than she could ever remember being in her life. What if he didn't like her?

Very rarely in her life had Riley cared about other's opinions. She was free spirited, and sure, a little odd, but she was happy the way she was. But now, when the whole world was about to watch her with the Prince, she felt so small. Should she be more sweet, more gentle? More passionate or womanly? She didn't even know. Would the world like her for who she was?

Her heart beat wildly against her rib cage and her stomach hurt so badly she was afraid she might be sick. She never should have applied, this had been a mistake. Why hadn't she stayed in Hudson?

The world may have been ready for Lady Riley, but she wasn't so sure they would like Riley Fay as much once they really saw her.

Trying to take deep, calming breaths, Riley settled herself on the edge of her bed, with her legs crossed and tried to ignore the pounding of her heart. It was so loud that she was sure her maids could hear it. She played with the gray fabric that made up the skirt of her dress.

So lost in thought, the knock on the door made her jump. It was time, she thought, standing up and holding her hands in front of her as Betts went to answer the door. The three maids instantly dropped into low curtsied when they saw the Prince, and Riley followed a second later, mentally hitting herself for almost forgetting. "Your highness." Her voice was almost a whisper, and she kept her head bowed slightly, afraid to look him in the eye.

"Lady Riley." Percy had a wide smile on his face as he looked at her, bigger than she had seen him wearing in a long time. "You look beautiful." He told her, before instantly flushing. He'd never been on a date before, and wasn't exactly sure what he should do.

Riley turned just as red as he was, but the Prince was not exaggerating anything. The Lady really did look lovely, her golden hair draped in soft curls that fell around her shoulders. The dress she had changed into was just as lovely as she was, and had a unique flare to it that Percy had never seen. It was a silvery gray color, with a layered skirt that was much longer on the left side than the right, so it grew diagonally longer as you traveled in the opposite direction. A small row of sequins made a belt around the girl's waist, it was sleeveless, but not revealing or somehow lacking class.

"Thank you." The girl replied, her voice a little shaky. Percy didn't blame her for being nervous. Heck, he had almost chickened out at least five times while walking to her room. This was his first date, after all, and it could very well be Riley's as well.

"Umm..." The Prince said lamely, dimly aware of the presence of the three maids in the room, who were all staring at him with varying looks of shock and awe on their faces. This realization did not make him feel any better. "Shall we go?" He asked, attempting to flash her a winning smile but probably coming off more like a crazed murderer. He held out his arm for the Lady to slip hers through, like his mother had taught him when he was much younger. Moving gracefully in delicate silver flats, Riley moved forward and took it, giving him a small, shy smile as she did so.

The two of them walked arm in arm down the hall in silence, both of them praying they wouldn't pass anyone else in the Selection. Thankfully, luck was on their side and the couple maid it to the palace gardens pretty much unnoticed.

It was a different story, however, when they set foot on the grounds. Several reporters and camera crews were already there, and instantly tried to mob the Prince. The guards that had followed them pushed them back, but Percy was aware that Riley was shrinking away from the cameras. For a girl with a rather short stature to begin with, she couldn't really make herself any shorter. "I'm sorry." The Prince whispered to her, trying to reassure her. "I didn't know there were going to be this many... But, don't worry. If anyone's going to make a fool of themselves, it will be me."

"I doubt that." Riley muttered under her breath, but she was touched by his words all the same. Putting on a bright smile, she tried to forget about the cameras that followed behind them as she walked along. "The gardens are so pretty!" She gushed, surveying the various plants and topi arises that a team of many gardeners must have worked hard to keep up.

"They are, aren't they." Percy seemed far more relaxed outside, even with the reporters tried to listen to their every word. "I don't get to spend nearly as much time out here as I want to. I'm usually in some meeting or another. Callie comes out here the most, I think, but most of my siblings are indoor people."

Riley felt her body ease up a little as the two fell into small talk. They made their way around a trail of sorts, and eventually came to a small pond, with lily pad floating easily on the water. Straining her ears, Riley could hear the croaking of a few frogs as they called out to one another. The water was startlingly clear, and different colors of fish darted around the pond. "Wow..." The Lady breathed, impressed by the beauty. "I wish I had my camera."

"Oh!" Percy asked, stopping to look at her. "Are you a photographer?" His wide eyes looked so eager for information that Riley grinned up at him.

"I am, actually. Not a nature photographer, but I do like getting shots of nature when I can. Um, I work as a photographer for the Illéan National, the magazine, and so I basically take pictures of whatever they want me to. I really enjoy it, as I've gotten to work with and explore every type of photography: portraits, wildlife, nature, everything." Riley started to get more and more animated as she talked about her passion, and her footsteps quickened without her even realizing. Percy, amused and excited that she was talking to him, matched her pace as he listened. "I've even gotten to photograph baby lion cubs, which was super fun, even though they scratched me a little. But, it was worth it because the photos turned out super cute! The newspaper owner really liked them, and they were even put on the front cover and..." Riley trailed off, blushing slightly, aware of the fact she was blabbering.

The Prince stopped and turned to look at her, confusion readable on his handsome features. "Why did you stop?" He seemed generally confused. "What else did you get to photograph?"

Riley was about to continue, when she remembered Padma's advice. He was the Prince, and he probably wasn't interested in hearing her stories. She was 90 percent sure he was only being polite in asking. And she hadn't even bothered to ask him what he liked to do. "Oh, they aren't that important. It's just a silly hobby, really." She tried to keep the nerves that had filled her again out of her voice. She tried to walk forward, but Percy caught her arm and stopped her.

"It's not a silly hobby, Lady Riley. It seems like you're really passionate about photography, and I think that's great. I want to hear more about it, or I wouldn't have asked." He was looking at her so intently that she had to look away, embarrassed again. "Now, tell me about the lion cubs that you got to photograph. That seems like it would be very difficult to get the right angle or keep them still for a clear shot."

The two walked around the pond a couple times, falling into actual conversation. Riley told him all about her adventures she'd had working as a professional photographer, from trying to get the perfect headshot of an important, but very animated business man to attempting to capture the Hudson skyline at sunset. As they strolled around the water a third time, she was promising to develop some of the photos she had stored on her camera and show them to him. Talking to the Prince (who insisted she call him Percy) was much easier than Riley had expected, once she realized he wasn't going to make fun of her. Percy also shared details about his passions. He was a fan of sports, baseball being his favorite, but he also liked music. Riley had been ecstatic when she had heard this, and the two compared genres and artists they were fans of. The Prince apparently knew how to play the piano, which was far more than the Lady could say for herself, unless "Chopsticks" counted as being able to play.

"Well, Lady Riley." Percy said as he stopped in front of the palace entrance. "We should probably be getting back now."

She nodded, though she was a little sad to be leaving the gardens. She had really enjoyed talking to Percy, who had proved to be quite an adept conversationalist. Without thinking, she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and nodded.

"What's that?" The Prince asked, peering at the part of her feather tattoo that had become visible when she moved her hair. A smile crept onto his face. "Lady Riley, are you hiding something from me?"

Eyes widening, Riley tried to cover it back up again with Padma's words echoing in her mind, but it was no use. Smoothly, Percy stepped forward, eliminating the gap between them, and brushed the hair away from her left ear. A smile played along his lips. "It's a feather. I like it. Why did you try to hide it from me?"

"Umm..." Riley bit her lip, not wanting to give a reason. Finally, she cracked. "I just thought it might be, uh, well, improper or something. My maids told me that none of the other girls would have tattoos, and that it probably wouldn't go over well with the Royal family." Still aware of the closeness between them, she broke off, not knowing what else to say.

Percy looked intently at the feather, his head cocked slightly. A boyish grin was on his face as he looked down at it. "So what if it's not proper. It's you, isn't it? You like it, don't you?"

Riley nodded, unsure of what to say. "Yeah, I do."

"Then don't hide it. If you like it, it shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks." Percy spoke very matter-of-factly, but his words were magical in the amount of self confidence they returned to the Lady. Suddenly, she felt more like her self than she had since arriving at the palace.

"If you like that one," Riley joked, "You should see the one on my ass." Instantly, she regretted what she had said, but Percy burst into laughter harder than she had ever seen before. He almost doubled over, he was laughing so hard, and eventually Riley joined in.

Making a point of examining her, Percy was still chuckling when he replied. "God, I'd like to." He winked so she knew he was kidding, but then moved in closer to her again. "Lady Riley, that was the most entertaining thing I'd had heard in a long time." She gave a little curtsy in acceptance of the compliment. "I'll say this much, you certainly know how to might quite an impression on a man."

"Hey," she shrugged. "I'm nothing if I'm not creative."

The two of them started walking up the steps, though the palace doors, and back to the Lady's room. The walk to her door seemed much shorter than it had only an hour before, when the two had both been awkwardly trying to think of things to talk about.

Ah, the world seemed so much brighter now.

The Prince and the girl reached her door and stopped, both feeling a little sad to leave one another. "Well..." Both said at the same time, before laughing.

"This is me." Riley said, lamely, aware that he already knew that since he had come to get her from this same room in the first place. Luckily, the Prince chose not to comment on that.

"Well, Lady Riley, this has been great fun. Unfortunately, as I am dating 35 women, I cannot tell you exactly when our next date will be, but I hope it is sooner, rather than later." Percy's face still wore a grin, and Riley was sure her expression matched his. She struggled to find words to say, but came up short as the Prince reached for her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. Giving her one last, sweet smile, he realized her hand and turned away from her. Soon, he was gone from her view, but that didn't stop Riley from staring longingly after him, the hand he had kissed placed over her fluttering heart.

And when she entered her room and her maids asked a million questions, she didn't need to answer a single one of them. The smile on her face told the whole story for her.

Riley had always been afraid of heights and falling, but as she gently washed away the foundation from the heart inked onto her collar bone, she was fairly sure that falling in love wasn't going to be nearly as terrifying.

I know, not the longest chapter, but it's midnight and I just wanted to post it.

 **Hopefully you liked it! As I said, it could have been better, but I wrote it so many times that I just wanted to post something...**

 **-Sora**


	13. No One Wins It All

**Hey, look! A faster update! *gasp* Wow, those are rare. I still blame Ruby, because she had like a five day streak of updating every day and it was kind of scary and legendary at the same time. I'm not nearly that creative or talented, but at least it wasn't months this time! I'm improving, I promise.**

 **Hehehe... Surprise elimination. Sorry to spring this on you, but... I think it was time. I'm ready to get this story moving faster.**

Percy spent the next two days either in meetings or desperately trying to connect with all the girls. Since the rebel attack had happened during the allotted time where he was supposed to meet the girls, he was uncomfortably aware of the fact that he was late for an elimination. Not wanting to miss any chances to find his soul mate, he tried to connect to every girl, even in the briefest period of time. Unfortunately, there were 25 of them and only one of him, meaning that two days after his first date with Riley, Ciara entered the Prince's bedroom to find a thoroughly exhausted Percy laying on the bed. Beside him showed the reminisce of several hours work, scattered pens, highlighters, and girl's forms alike lay next to him.

"Wow..." The Irish Queen mused, a slight smile on her face as she perched on the edge of his bed. Percy had his head buried in his pillow and didn't even look up at the sound of his voice. "Someone's been working."

Letting out a groan, but not actually responding, Percy refused to take his head out of his pillow. He wasn't exactly sure of where he stood currently with Ciara, or where she stood with him, but it was pointless to be mad at her. Alex... Wouldn't have wanted that. Besides, Percy was too stressed and worried about everything in his life to lose his only friend. Callie was still avoiding him as best as she could, and Aiden and Aria were more distant than normal. Frankly, the only sibling he was on good terms with was Courtney, but the Prince somehow doubted that she would be a ton of help deciding which girls he should eliminate. By Percy's estimate, she had met about 15 of the girls between since their arrival, and so far she had wanted him to marry 14 of them (the young princess was not a fan of Lady Reagan, though he had no knowledge of why, exactly, she didn't pass the six-year-old's approval).

No, he could not lose Ciara.

"Help me..." He moaned, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling, as Ciara scooted over closer to him. "There's too many of them, Cece." He addressed her using the nickname he'd given her as a child, attempting to show her that he was no longer mad at her. Sitting up, he let his friend rub his back gently while he cradled his head in his hands. "What if I choose wrong and let the wrong person go? What would I do then? What if I don't like any of them, or they hate me or, or, or..."

 _Slap_.

Percy jolted back as Ciara's palm connected with his left cheek. "Ow!" He whimpered, holding his cheek. The Prince was aware that he was a baby about being in pain, but he didn't understand why she had decided to smack him. "What was that for?!" He glared at the girl in front of him, whose smirk was extremely apparent on her face.

"Better?" she chuckled, not afraid at all of offending the crown prince of Illéa. Smugly, she adjusted her dark blue dress and crossed one leg over the other in a very ladylike manner. Her entire attitude did not look at all like someone who would ever, or could ever, slap someone.

Percy stared at her, aghast. "No, I am NOT better!" He said, his tone somehow both angry and hurt. "You slapped me! That... That... That wasn't nice!" There was an heir of disbelieving, even though when the two of them were young, Ciara had always been capable of doing much worse. Despite her petite stature, the young woman was not someone that you messed with, at least more than once.

"Yes, and I'll do it again if you don't pull yourself together. You are the crown Prince of Illéa, and you are supposed to be finding the love of your wife in four months. You do not have time to question yourself or complain like a child. You will do an elimination of the girls you do not feel you made an emotional connection to and you will do so tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?" Ciara was not quite yelling, but she had adopted a sharp edge to her voice, one Percy had rarely heard before. Her auburn curls shook slightly as glared at him, and the Prince shifted away a little, partially in apology and partially because he didn't want to get slapped again.

Not meeting her eyes, the Prince bowed his head a little, embarrassed. "Yes, m'am."

"Good!" Ciara smiled brightly, as if nothing had happened. "Now," she settled beside him and picked up a few of the forms. "Which girls do you know you didn't connect with?"

"Umm..." Percy started, not wanting to actually make a decision still. "I... Don't know." He winced after saying it, in case she decided to slap him again.

Ciara, however, nodded. "Well, then let's go through it step by step. Here, I'll show you a girl's form and you tell me what you thought of them."

"Okay... I can do that, I think." Percy wasn't extremely confident in his answer, but the girl chose to ignore it.

Examining the first piece of paper she held in her hand, she turned it over so that Percy could see the girl's picture. "Here," she said. "Tell me what you think about Lady Meredith Jane Arden."

The picture staring back at him showed a pretty girl, and a face he remembered from yesterday's breakfast. He'd sat next to the blonde, who was one of the oldest in the Selection, and been charmed by her fun-loving, sweet (although a little clueless at times) personality and how well she seemed to get along with the other girls. She wasn't the best at making jokes, but Meredith, or Merry as she had insisted he call her, laughed easily at anything he had told her. "I like her." The Prince decided. She hadn't stuck out as much as some of the other girls, but she seemed incredibly sweet and kind.

With an approving nod, Ciara moved onto the next form. "What about Miss Viviann Anderson, the Two from Labrador?" The girl that Percy remembered meeting two days ago in the Women's Room, shortly after his date with Riley, had been a lot calmer than Merry, despite being two years her junior. Incredibly well put together, Lady Viviann and Percy had exchanged a pleasant conversation mostly consisting of small talk, but the Prince had been amazed by the passion that her voice contained about most things. True, he had not felt quite the connection he had with other girls, but her ladylike manner made her a good fit for the position of Queen that his future wife would one day inherit.

"She'll stay too." He said decisively, and wondered if he could handle eliminating anyone at all.

"Okay..." Ciara said, sensing his indecisiveness but not wanting to get off track, she continued. "Any strong feelings towards Andraste Magdalena Ward or Lisalotte Marijn van Bergen?" She asked, flashing two pictures of two pretty girls, a blonde and a girl with long, black hair.

Without even meaning to, Percy shook his head. Andraste, he remembered, was the second girl he had interviewed, the one who had run out of the room crying. Not a particularly good sign for a future relationship. She had apologized to him later that day when he had gone to make sure she was alright, but the blonde had never calmed down completely and kept her guard up. The other girl, Lisalotte, had barely said a word all through lunch two days ago. Percy couldn't tell if she was shy or just reserved, and though she answered his questions honestly, he found it was a struggle to get through a single conversation with her.

Ciara smiled sadly at him, but not unkindly. "It's okay if you don't get along with some of them, Percy. You can't marry 25 girls, after all."

This didn't really help him feel any better about letting them go, but he nodded. "That's true, I guess. It won't make it any easier to tell them, though."

The redhead ignored his statement and picked up another form. Reading the name, she grinned. "I'm assuming that Miss Riley Fay isn't going anywhere, so I'll just move on to... Ladies Daciana Menida Tolston and Alia Ram Kumar."

The saddest part about these two names is that neither girl had made enough of an impression on Percy to be able to even really identify it. From what the Prince could call to mind, Lady Alia was a pretty girl with Indian roots, with caramel colored skin and a bubbly, happy personality. However, she was a bit too... Happy all the time for him. The Prince could barely remember Lady Daciana at all. Out of 25 girls, she just hadn't stood out to him.

"I'll send them home, too." Percy said, although it was mainly for his own benefit than Ciara's.

Wordlessly, she held up the next form and the Prince smiled at the beaming face of Lady Monroe Maryanne Zaley. Thinking fondly of his first interview, he remembered the brunette and her slightly Southern accent. She had been the most energetic of all the girls, and though he had no intention of sending her home, he knew that Courtney would be crushed if her new best friend was to leave so soon. "Monroe isn't going anywhere."

He started working through the forms as well, and he put the three he had been looking at aside as he helped Ciara find more to question him on. A pink flush spread across his face as he say Carlyn's form, and he quickly sorted her form into the pile of girls that were staying before his friend noticed the color in his cheeks.

The two of them continued in this routine for another half an hour. Lady Yasmin Ella Keller had earned a spot in the pile of girls staying because she had been the first girl to tell Percy that he could always come to her when he was feeling down. Her background was in studying mental illnesses, and the Prince had made a mental note to introduce her to Callie whenever he got a chance.

In all honesty, Percy had tried his best to avoid Lady Melissa Sorenclair after the awkward conversation he'd had with her a few days before the girls had actually arrived. Since she worked as his mother's personal assistant, he figured it would be wrong to send her home over a matter as trivial as that, and it might be even more awkward to send her home and realize she lived in the palace. No, she would have to stay.

Though he was not at all sure why, since both girls had seemed a little... Intense, he found that he put both Lady Sarah Belle Sanders (who still requested everyone call her Sadie) and Lady Reagan Elizabeth Delilah Seraphina Skylar Chase (who could have had her pick of any one of her thirty middle names to go by) into the pile of girls that were staying. Both had made an impression, however, and Percy thought it would be wrong to send them home so soon.

The hardest elimination for him was probably choosing to send Lady Rowan Cedonia Shade home. The young Three had a very unique, quirky personality. She said she wanted to be an inventor, and he had no doubt that she would be. Her hands were always moving and she had a cute habit of tapping her foot. Though she had gotten on really well with Percy when she was in a group, she seemed nervous and agitated around him when he had spoken to her alone. The biggest factor, however, was that he didn't want her to be bored during the Selection. She spoke with such passion about what she wanted to create and how she was going to help Illéa, he couldn't keep her here where all she would get to do was look pretty. He hoped that she would forgive him and understand why he was letting her go. One day, Percy knew that she was going to do great things.

It was a far easier decision to let Lady Jannellese Monay Lockhart go. Though she had been sweet and friendly, she just wasn't princess material. Her pastel blue hair and habit of cursing when she got excited didn't exactly make him confident of how she would rule a country. If he had been an ordinary man, the two of them may have gotten along really well. However, it was not meant to be in this universe. The Prince stacked her form on the rapidly growing "eliminated" stack and didn't look back.

The Prince was not sure at all where he stood in Lady Margo's eyes, but he just had to find out. Even if she hated him for it, he couldn't eliminate her. Though, part of his attachment to her might have been the fact that if she had actually wanted to stay, she very easily could have beaten him up. But, it was more than that. She was so dangerous, so unreadable. Percy had always liked a challenge, and he saw a doozy in Lady Margo.

Delaney Silvyn-Ellis and Snow Caitlin Evers both would continue on in the Selection, with both girls charming their way into his heart. Though he hadn't talked to Delaney since he interviewed her, she occupied his thoughts. In fact, she was one of the three forms he had set aside to perhaps ask on the next date. Lady Snow had been extremely different than tough-as-nails Delaney. Incredibly sweet and modest, the young blonde had spend most of the time he'd spoken with her yesterday gushing about how great everyone else was, rather than boast about herself.

Percy's two other considerations for the second date, Raleigh Nicole Shellington and Sawyer Lane Walsh, were also of course staying in the competition. Raleigh had been kind enough to overlook how badly he had mispronounced her name, the least Percy could do was get to know her better. Plus, she had similar views on spelling, from what he had gathered. Lady Sawyer had captured him from the very first time he laid eyes on her. She seemed guarded, but incredibly mysterious. Her two-colored eyes gave her an incredibly wise look about her.

Ciara warned him that he still needed to eliminate at least one more girl, as he had only sent six home. For sheer numbers, he decided to send both Yanely Deanna Genovious and Rebecca Anna Diann Kindley home. Neither had really made a big impression on him, and he did know that it would be easier to send them home now than later when it was more individualized. This meant, of course, that both Aenwyn Cassia Le Touraneu and Sara Laila Azalea Adel would remain at the palace.

Happy, but exhausted by their work, Percy didn't have the energy to chose which girl he would ask on a date next.

That was tomorrow's problem.

Finally done, Ciara leaned backwards against Percy and rested her head on is shoulder If he was tired, he couldn't even imagine being four months pregnant and sorting through 25 women. Though she had yet to make her pregnancy known to anyone except for himself and Callie, she was starting to get a hint of a bump over her stomach. He noticed her style had become much looser than the dresses she used to wear, as she probably wasn't ready to come out with her condition.

Gently, he kissed the top of her forehead and drew her closer towards him. "Love you, Cece." He told her. "Even when you slap me."

"Love you too, big brother." She said with a smile, but her eyes were still closed and her breathing was soft.

And within minutes, both of them were asleep.

 **Obviously, you could see who was eliminated and who was staying, but I also have the Main, Supporting, and Minor list out, so without further ado...**

Main:

Raleigh Nicole Shellington

Margoret Medavan

Sawyer Lane Walsh

Delaney Silvyn-Ellis

Monroe Maryanne Zaley

Riley Fay

Carlyn Blythe Gray

Supporting:

Aenwyn Cassia Le Touraneu

Sarah Belle Sanders (Antagonist)

Melissa Sorenclair

Yasmin Ella Keller

Meredith Jane Arden

Minor:

Sara Laila Azalea Adel

Snow Caitlin Evers

Reagan Elizabeth Delilah Seraphina Skylar Chase (Antagonist)

Viviann Anderson

Fredricka Barthelemy

Eliminated:

Yanely Deanna Genovious

Rebecca Anna Diann Kindley

Andraste Magdalena Ward

Lisalotte Marijn van Bergen

Daciana Menida Tolston

Alia Ram Kumar

Rowan Cedonia Shade

Jannellese Monay Lockhart

 **I had the hardest time writing this chapter, just because I love all the characters you sent in. It took me four hours to write this chapter, and it was definitely a hard choice to make. Please don't be mad at me if your character is a minor or was eliminated. I promise, that does not mean that you submitted a bad character. It just means that I couldn't write them or that I felt I wouldn't do them justice in this story, and I am really sorry I cannot give each and everyone of them a happy ending.**

 **Just because your character is a minor, does not mean that I am going to never mention them. I sent 8 people home for a reason. That narrows it down a LOT! It gives me a more manageable list so I can focus on more each girl more individually.**

 **Again, I'm sorry to spring a surprise elimination on you, but... I was ready.**

 **Love you all!**

 **-Sora**


	14. Swim-tember

**I was lucky as most of you who reviewed weren't super mad at me... I hate people being mad at me. I did get a few who were, and I am truly sorry for disappointing you. As much as I want to make everyone happy all the time, the fact is that only one girl will be able to win in the end. It broke my heart to send a lot of those girls home without getting enough time to feature them. I promise you, I understand how much time it takes all of you to create and send in characters. When I submit to SYOCs, my forms range from 5-8 pages and take an average of 4 to 5 hours to write. I know it's hard to get a character that you love get sent home, I've had it happen before. Sometimes my favorite characters are the ones that the creator sends home first. So, please believe me when I say, I DO understand why you are mad or upset. It's totally understandable to be. However, just know that it wasn't a choice I made wildly-nelly. The chapter took me 4 hours to write alone, and I've been working on the list for almost 3 weeks now. I could have posted it sooner, as it was almost finalized when I posted Riley's date chapter, but I was too afraid to do it then.**

 **Just know that I am sorry, but I don't blame you for being mad at me. But I am sorry...**

 **Sadly, this has the actual elimination in it, which was hard to write. I tried to make the rest of the chapter as happy as possible to make up for it.**

 **Thank you for everyone who said supportive or even negative things to me last chapter. I really need feedback to know which you guys like or don't like. Don't be afraid to tell me. I promise I won't get mad at you, although I'll be sad that I disappointed you for sure. I just want to try and get better. I'm only 15 and 1/2, and I'm NOWHERE near being a professional writer.**

 **Now, onto the chapter. This one is super short, as I didn't want to get into the actual group date since that would be super long, but I did want to get something out tonight.**

The eight girls gathered in front of Percy had varying degrees of interest and concern flashing on their face. It was just after breakfast on the morning after he and Ciara had decided on the elimination, or as the Prince called it, "The Day of the Slap". It was also the third official day of the Selection, way past the usual day of the first elimination. Unfortunately, more time with the eight women in front of him made it even more difficult to say goodbye.

He didn't understand why it was so hard to say the words he knew he had to speak. Though he hadn't really connected to any of these girls, it was still hard to send them home. Struggling to find the words, he began.

"Umm..." Stupid, stupid, stupid. "I'm sure you're all wondering why your here right now. One of the hardest things about the Selection is the short time line that I need to look for my future wife. Unfortunately, there are 25 of you, and I will only marry 1 of you at the end. Uh, unfortunately, I... Uh, am going to have to send you home today. You are all beautiful, incredible young women, but I just don't see a future between us. I'm so sorry, and I wish you all the best in your future."

The reactions from the girls was even worse than saying the actual words. Percy watched expressions crumble. A few girls, Lisalotte and Jannelese, seemed to be close to tears. Apparently not wanting to stay, Yanely left without a word. She wasn't in tears, but her emotions seemed to be more expressed in anger. Her jaw was set and she didn't look back. Feeling horrible, Percy tried to mumble an apology to the girls, but none of them seemed to be helped by it.

The only two girls to not look upset where Andraste and Rowan. The former actually seemed a bit relieved, and left the room with the smallest hint of a smile still playing on her face. Rowan didn't seem mad or upset at all. In fact, before she exited, she put a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Thank you." She whispered, but the Prince wasn't exactly sure what she was thanking him for.

Daciana glared at him, but didn't speak. Alia just looked crushed and her dark brown eyes watered, but did not spill over as she turned her back on him.

They left him standing there, praying that he had made the right choice.

Deciding that he could use a pick me up, he went hunting in search of Ciara and Callie. The weather was incredibly warm for a day in late September, and he intended to do something that he hadn't done in a long time: have fun. Stringing purposely down the hallways, he knocked on the door of his sister's room. "Callie! Open up!"

The blonde stuck her head out, wanting to make sure he didn't come to yell at her. "Yes?" She asked, slightly defensively.

"Let's go swimming." He told her, not asking but rather informing them how they were going to spend their afternoon.

She started laughing, tossing her long, blonde hair back over her shoulder. "Now? Good God, Percy! It's the end of September."

"And you know our pool is heated. Come on, you're coming. We could all use a break. Get Cece and let's go." He told her before striding away, leaving her standing in the doorway, extremely confused and amused at the same time. He had a few more people to invite.

Not technically allowed in the Women's Room, and having no one to ask as his mother was indisposed in one of her fits, the Prince paced back and forth in front of the door. He had to collect his thoughts before he asked for the girls.

It was going to be a group date, he decided. It would be easier for him, and probably for the girls too, to start out in a group. Then there wasn't as much pressure for first kisses or... Whatever. Plus, it would look much better on the Report if it showed a party like the one he was planning.

The hardest part was deciding who to invite. It would already be him, Callie, and Ciara, and he would probably ask Aria if she wanted to come as well. He doubted that she would accept the invitation, but his middle sister had been so distant recently, it would be nice to include her. He doubted she had even met any of the ladies, yet, as she was usually locked in her room. Percy knew that Alex's death had been hard on her, but she had to leave the room sooner or later.

That meant that he should invite no more than 6 girls, to avoid making it chaotic. Hoping that none of the ladies would be coming out any time soon, he continued pacing, trying to organize his thoughts.

Lady Delaney was an obvious choice, but a smart one. She seemed to be outgoing enough to get along with most of the girls, but also wouldn't be obnoxious. Besides that point, she had also been one of the three girls he considered for the second, private date. However, thinking about it, he decided that she would probably enjoy a more noisy, group environment better. She also seemed rather athletic, so swimming would probably be an enjoyable activity for her.

As much as he wanted to invite Lady Carlyn, he though she would have the opposite reaction than Delaney would. Though social, he thought that it might be better to have their first date one on one, especially after the way he had behaved when he first met her. Riley was also ruled out, even though she probably would have enjoyed it, since she had gotten the first date.

It was a tough choice, but he finally narrowed it down to six girls. Catching the arm of a passing maid, he asked for a favor. "Can you go into the Women's Room and ask Ladies Delaney, Raleigh, Reagan, Meredith, Aenwyn, and Snow to come out? Oh, and do tell them not to worry, it's not an elimination."

There was a pause of about a minute where the maid went in to fetch the girls. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Percy but was probably more like ninety seconds, all six emerged. Each girl looked lovely, as they all did, and wore varying expressions of confusion and excitement. Snow was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, her light pink dress the perfect match for her blonde hair. Reagan and Delaney were far more subdued, but their curiosity still was evident in their faces, much as they tried to hide it. The other three were somewhere in between.

"Hello, ladies!" Percy was far more confident about giving this speech than the elimination. "I hope I didn't scare you when I called you all out here. You are by no means in trouble or going to be sent home. Exactly the opposite, in fact. I was hoping to take advantage of the wonderful weather we're having and take a dip in the pool. My sister, Princess Callisa, will be joining us, and I believe that Queen Ciara of Ireland, whom most of you have met by now, will also be. If you would be at all interested in joining me, please change into swim wear and meet me in the main lobby in about forty five minutes, and I will show you to the pool then. And, don't worry. The pool is entirely heated and indoors, so you will not be cold."

All six girls beamed at him. Snow squealed a little, apparently extremely happy about being able to get outside. Aenwyn was the first one who remembered to curtesy to him, giving him a shy smile. "Thank you, your majesty. I would be honored." As if suddenly remembering they needed to do that, all five other girls dropped into polite bends and uttered similar expressions of gratitude. Eager to get going, they scurried back to their rooms in order to change into swimsuits.

Delaney lagged behind, however, her chocolatey brown eyes trained on his with a smug smile on his face. "So..." She started. "Swimming in September?" She raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow at him, but Percy was finding it difficult to keep his eyes on her face. Her dark blue, velvet dress was tight-fitting and accented just the right places. She was incredibly beautiful, in an athletic, muscular way. He heard her words, but he was not staring at her face when she spoke to him. Grinning when she saw where his eyes were, she teased. "I could try breathing up and down, like Sadie did, if you'd like."

Mortified that she had noticed, he flushed fire-engine red. "Uh, no, no." He insisted quickly, trying to change the subject. "I mean, yes. Swimming. In September. Uh, it... It seemed like a fun time."

"Yes." The girl replied smoothly, picking at a stray thread on her dress which was not helping Percy stay focused on her face. "It should be a hoot. I haven't met your sister, yet. Princess Callisa, I mean. Your little sister is my hero after she took down Sadie."

Percy had to work hard not to smile as he remembered that part of the interview. It felt bad to laugh at Sadie's tactic for wooing him, but he did have to admit that it had been hilarious. "I almost asked her on the date, but she seemed to have enough time breathing air. I was afraid it might get even worse it the water."

Delaney sniggered, eyes twinkling with mirth. "Lord knows, we wouldn't want her to choke. Well, I should go get changed, but I'll meet you down in the lobby. But, for warning, if she shows up, I'm leaving."

"Noted!" Percy called after her retreating back, and she looked over her shoulder enough to give him a wink before she retreated.

Still laughing from his conversation, he made his way back to his room. Now, the question was, did he have a pair of swim trunks that wouldn't look like he was an eight-year old boy?

 **I know, I know, not my best or my longest. But, the next chapter will be fairly long as it will be the group date. This was sort of a filler chapter, but it had to be written.**

 **-Sora**


	15. Put That Swimsuit Back On or So Help Me

**If anyone was wondering, yes. The title is a parody on the line from Monster's Inc "Put that thing back where it came from or so help me." I give things weird titles... I'm not sorry.  
**

 **Three in a row, three in a row. *cue crowd cheering and chanting* I'm on Ruby's tail, but she still has two more days longer than me. To all my other authors that need to update, especially ones that were planning on doing a 400 word a day challenge (*coughs* shades *coughs* Star), get your head in the game. I want updates! So many of the stories I follow are in cliffhangers right now. Does anyone else have that problem? Or is it just me?**

 **Sorry about the glitch last chapter. It sent out an email, but apparently that was all just code and weirdness, so I deleted it and reposted it. Chapter 14 is now readable, and I recommend that you do read it first, just to get a little more idea about how Percy went about asking all these girls on a group date.**

 **Also, Delaney's line about that she could breath up and down for him and Percy's face when he was caught staring at something that was not actually her face was my favorite part, and I really want people to laugh. This started out as a sad story, and the sadness is by no means finished, so I like to make people laugh while they can.**

 **So, let's do this! Group date! Yay! This is a longer update than last time, but it's not the full date chapter. It's going to be split into two, just because it would be like 10k words if I tried to do it in one, especially with the Ciara scene I included in this one, and I wanted to keep my three day streak alive. So this is part one.**

 **Okay, let's do this thing! Remember to review (the glitch last time was unfortunate), and make sure to tell me how I'm doing or which girls you like.**

 **Oh, wait! One more thing! I put a poll up on my profile that asks which girl out of the six on the group date you like the most. I don't know exactly what I'll do with the information, but it's nice to get feedback. PLEASE vote on it, it's going to help me out a lot!**

The girls gathered in the lobby an hour later, nervous but with grins on their faces. All six of them carried beach towels of different colors. Most of them, all except Reagan and Snow, in fact, had cover-ups worn over their swim suits for the walk down to the pool. They chatted excitedly amongst themselves about what they might do. Snow confided in the girls that she didn't really know how to swim very well, coming from a place that didn't have a ton of water. Most of the other girls were more experienced, but Aenwyn squeezed her hand and gently reassured her. Surely, the prince wasn't going to eliminate her if she didn't swim very well.

About five minutes after they had gathered, they were joined by the two older princesses, Callie with her blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail and Aria, dragging slightly behind her older sister. Both looked beautiful, and though neither were paying much attention to the girls as they were busy conversing with each other, but the six Ladies all fell silent.

Then the Prince walked into the room.

"Hello, sailor..." Reagan muttered under her breath, blue eyes widening in excitement as she stared at Percy. He was not wearing a shirt, and his body was not something to laugh at. He was extremely muscular and lean. Snow almost fell down, she was so excited. All the girls were fairly impressed as he strolled up to them, his dark blue swim trunks a perfect color for his tanned skin.

He gave a smile at all of the girls, giving them all a once over. "Hello, Ladies. You all look wonderful! Are you excited?" All the girls nodded and smiled at him, happy to get outside. In the three days they had been at the palace, they hadn't been allowed to explore the grounds. "Good!" He clapped his hands together, reminding them a little of a tour guide. "I won't keep you waiting then. I'm going to wait for Queen Ciara, but I will have Callie and Aria take you down to the pool. I'm sure I'll be down shortly."

Aria went on ahead of the girls, showing them the way but mostly avoiding any actual conversations. Callie walked with the six of them, answering questions about the palace or herself. She was very down-to-earth, not at all like a Royal. Her ponytail swung with each step she took, and she wore a very elegant, modest bathing suit. It was a one piece, with long sleeves that covered her slender arms down to her hands. It had small, blue polka dots covering the entire thing, and it was open on parts of the sides. She must have been sensitive to the sun, the girls assumed, to have a bathing suit with long sleeves. It was very pretty though, the white standing out nicely against her tanned skin.

As she and her younger sister lead the girls out of the palace and to the swimming pool, Aenywn couldn't help sizing up the other girls. As much as she wanted to be friends with everyone, a part of her, the toughened, orphaned part of her, was always calculating who she was with. Though she would never do anything to sabotage any of her peers, it was always good to know who her competition was.

The young blonde who walked next to her from Allens, Snow, looked darling in her pink, striped suit. She was the only one besides Princess Callisa and Lady Delaney who had chosen to wear a one piece, and Aenywn had an idea why. While the girl wasn't heavy by any means, she had more baby fat than most of the other girls did. She was also probably not as confident in her body as Reagan and Delaney were, although neither was Aenywn, when it came down to it. Her own ruffled, purple bikini didn't show nearly as much skin as the two girls that walked in front.

From what Aenywn could tell, her biggest threat was probably Delaney. Not only was the girl beautiful, she was also extremely confident. She could say things that Aemywn could only dream of being able to say. It was as if she wasn't worried about how she was coming across, she was so confident of her self-worth. The Prince already seemed rather taken with her, and Aenywn knew that she was going to have to work hard to capture his attention in this date. Though they'd had a nice conversation over dinner two nights ago, it hadn't been a very long one. It had saved her from this elimination, but she knew she was going to have to work hard to keep her spot in the Selection.

For too long she had been less than a person in that orphanage. This was not just her chance to make a living for herself. This was a chance to shine.

Pushing the thoughts of elimination out of her mind, Aenywn continued to look over the other girls. She didn't consider Meredith to be much of a threat. Although sweet, the older girl also looked like she had a bit of a party side. As a Two, she had never had an official job besides bouncing around a bunch of different parties. That didn't give her much experience in the real world or how to rule over subjects. Though Aenywn personally had never had a formal education, she had seen and done things most people never would. She had lived on the streets, but although she suffered, kids that came into the orphanage where she now lived had much worse stories. That, at least, gave her a social issue that she wanted to fix. If she was to become Princess, and then Queen, she wanted to do something. To make a difference in the world. Cliché as it was, it was true.

She could figure out Reagan, much as she tried. The girl walked like a celebrity, but Aenywn knew for a fact that she was only a Four. Though still two castes higher than herself, it wasn't that great of a caste to come from. She had never had a conversation with Reagan, but she seemed distant, if not a little bitter. She was certainly bossy, from what her maids, giant gossips, had informed her. The three women assigned to take care of the Four had their hands full completing her ridiculous requests. However, as far as Aenywn knew personally, Reagan had yet to antagonize any of her peers in the Selection. Far more drama in the past three days had been caused by Sadie, who was thankfully not invited on the date.

The last girl she examined was Raleigh, who was currently walking just ahead of her and engaged in a conversation with Delaney. Perfect, beachy waves of honey-colored curls swayed gently as she laughed at something her friend had said. She wore a mint colored cover-up that was the perfect color for her skin tone. Raleigh seemed incredibly sweet, but she had a rough quality to her that Aenwyn didn't quite understand. Like she wasn't a girl to be underestimated. Despite her kind eyes and her polite attitude, she seemed like a girl who would be willing to fight for what she wanted.

And that meant she was a threat.

So involved in her thoughts, Aenwyn didn't even look up as the entered the Royal pool house. Completely covered in glass windows, the building was lit entirely with natural light. Inside, a giant, rectangular pool with a waterfall at one end and water so clear that the girls could see the golden accented floor. On the side of the main pool lay three jacuzzis, each a different sized circle and heated to a different temperature. Various pieces of pool equipment, nets, balls, kick boards, were hung neatly around the walls of the pool house. A few butlers and maids buzzed around, and several photographers were there to capture the date. A lifeguard sat at a tower placed a few feet back from the deep end of the pool, which was about 15 feet.

"Wow..." Merry breathed, eagerly taking in the beautiful building. All the other girls nodded in agreement, spell bound. It was easily the nicest pool that any of them had ever lay eyes on and the six of them stood side by side, almost in a trance as they stared.

The two princesses, obviously not impressed with somewhere they had spent most of their summers in, didn't wait with the Ladies. Always very ladylike, Callie made her way to the steps of the pool and sat on the edge, allowing her feet to adjust to the temperature before she entirely submerged herself. Aria, however, strolled to the farthest end of the pool and preformed a graceful, medal winning dive off of the side. There was a splash and a few seconds wait before her head breached the water, and she grinned, pushing her dark hair out of her eyes.

"Come on!" She called to the ladies, apparently getting annoyed by their frozen, deer-in-headlights expressions.

Delaney, unsurprisingly, was the first to move. Copying Aria, she jumped into the pool, although her strategy seemed to be going for the biggest splash rather than the most graceful dive. The other girls were a little surprised that her bathing suit, a sexy, white one piece that showed a little too much cleavage than needed, and with a tie to keep it from falling down in the front, actually stayed on. Reagan, not to be outdone, copied her strategy. The other four were sane human beings and entered the pool through the stairs. Snow, the weakest swimmer, stayed as close to the wall as she could and looked a little uncomfortable. Raleigh and Aenwyn swam out further, both fairly confident in their abilities, while Merry stayed with the younger girl and helped her the best she could.

Soon, the girls almost forgot about Percy and were busy laughing with each other. Raleigh had suggested playing a game of Marco Polo, which something that could be done in the shallow end for Snow, and soon they were busy squealing and splashing each other. Aenwyn was particularly good at locating the other girls when it was her turn to be Marco, where as Delaney, the fastest swimmer, was hardly ever caught. Snow, even though she was extremely afraid of going into the deep end, was a good sport about everything. Callie enjoyed herself immensely, and even Aria joined in playing, though she was very intense about winning and rather a poor sport when she lost.

/LINE BREAK/

"Come on, Cece, come out! The girls are waiting for us." Percy said, pounding on the doorway of his best friend's room, attempting to get her to open up. Despite the fact that she was supposed to have met them in the front of the palace to go swimming, the Irish Queen had refused to leave her room and had, in fact, locked the Prince out of it. However, she refused to tell him what was wrong. Percy couldn't have imagined what was going on. His sister had told him that Ciara had been ecstatic at the idea of swimming, when she'd told her, and had promised to be there at the specified time.

Plans had changed, apparently.

The door didn't open. From within, Percy heard his friend's muffled voice. "No! I'm not going!" Despite the fact that she was only a year and a half younger than he was, she sounded like a child and gave no explanation to why she suddenly had changed her mind.

"Come on!" He yelled, uncomfortably aware that he was the crown Prince of Illéa and he was having a conversation with a door. "I'm not going without you!"

He could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "You have to go." She said, exasperated. "The girls are all waiting for you. It wouldn't be nice for you to stand them all up."

The fact that his lateness to his date was clearly annoying her gave the Prince an idea. Sliding down so that he was leaning against the door and sitting on the floor, he shifted his weight to make himself as comfortable as possible. "Nope." His voice was calm and collected, with a friendly tone. "I won't go unless you do. I'll sit here and wait until you come out and go swimming with me."

There was no answer from within the room. All was still.

"I'm not bluffing..." His voice was almost singsong in it's rhythm. "I will stay here all night if I have to. You can't stay in there forever."

A moment of silence. And then, finally, there was the soft click of the lock being pulled back. Jumping to his feet, Percy grabbed the handle and pushed the door inward. He say Ciara, who was sitting on her bed in a grey bathing suit cover-up. Her eyes were closed and she was even paler than her normally fair skin tone was. He rushed to her, afraid she might be ill. "Are you okay, Ciara?" His voice was full of nothing but concern for his friend. In the back of his mind, the incredible pain he still bore from losing his brother flooded forward all at once. The young Prince had already lost so much. He could not bare to have Ciara hurt or sick as well.

She shook her head slightly, but didn't speak. She wouldn't meet his gaze. Percy noticed that one hand rested over her stomach.

Without warning, she burst into tears. The redhead buried her head into his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her without thinking, it felt so natural. "Hey, hey." He tried to sooth her, but he was so awkward doing so. "Don't cry, please. It's going to be alright, whatever it is."

That just seemed to make her cry harder. Her shoulders were shaking, but Percy suddenly realized that she seemed to be both laughing and crying at the same time. "It's just... So stupid!" She sobbed, making a chocking sound that seemed like a mixture of a cough and a gasp.

"What's stupid?!" Percy was completely confused at this point. He didn't know why she was crying, but he certainly didn't know why she was laughing at the same time. This was... Not his area of expertise.

Girls were so weird, sometimes. He had a terrifying image of 25 girls crying at the same time and wondered if the Selection would actually be the death of him. He was pretty sure that he had read somewhere that girls could cause heart attacks... That was right, wasn't it?

She gasped a little, having to calm herself down before she could actually talk. "It's just... Well, never mind." She sniffed, looking extremely young and pitiful. "You wouldn't understand. You're a guy."

 _Thank God_ , Percy thought, but he didn't feel like that was appropriate to say to her when she was in her current mood. "Uhhh... Well, I might. I'm, like, pretty smart." He wasn't, but that was entirely beside the point. "Try me." He insisted stubbornly.

"Fine." Ciara had pulled herself together now, but she still looked a little uncomfortable saying what had made her so upset. "But you have to promise not to laugh at me."

Percy placed his hand on his heart and gave her a little salute. "I promise!"

She stood up and walked away from him before she told him. "Fine..." She whispered, as if reassuring herself. "It's just..." She started. "I..." The words finally tumbled out of her so quickly that he almost missed them. "I can't fit into my suit, okay?"

The promise he had just made was almost broken, and Percy had to work hard to keep from laughing. "Ciara!" He stood up and walked to her, but she shrunk away. "Was that it? That was what you were crying over?"

She nodded, but glared at him. Apparently, she considered what he was doing to be close to laughing. Fighting to keep the smile off his face, he switched to a different approach: blunt honesty. "Ciara, you're four months pregnant! Of course the bathing suit isn't going to fit."

"Somehow, not making me feel any better about coming." The redhead mumbled bitterly.

Percy took both of her hands in his and stared into her bright green eyes, squeezing her hands when she tried to pull away. "No, look at me. Ciara, I have known you my entire life. You are the strongest, most beautiful girl I know. You are not seriously going to not go to a swim party because you don't like how you look in your swim suit. Now, I'm going to sit here while you go get your flip flops on, because even if you don't swim, you are going to come with me and help me pick out my future bride because God knows I'm lost without you. Are we clear?"

A little taken back by his new, take charge attitude, Ciara nodded.

"Good!" Percy said brightly.

/LINE BREAK/

The squeals and giggles from the eight women were the first sounds that greeted Percy and Ciara as they walked together into the pool house. The two caught snippets of dialogue from them as they watched the girls in what appeared to be the most intense game of Marco Polo ever played.

From what the Prince could gather, Delaney was 'it' and was shouting the word "Marco" in weirder and weirder accents. It was a fairly smart strategy, because she had reduced all the girls to laughter and now had a better sense of where they were in the pool. As she drew dangerously close to Reagan, the second girl take a chance and dove under Delaney's arms, just narrowly avoiding being caught. The other four girls also trying to avoid capture splashed around to confuse Delaney. It worked fairly well, as she didn't manage to touch someone the entire time that Percy was watching.

Deciding not to draw attention to himself since the girls hadn't noticed him, the Prince stood by the entrance and watched the fun. He was extremely glad all the girls seemed to be getting along. Plus, it was extremely entertaining for him to watch the game, almost more fun than actually playing it. He studied each of the girls, hoping to learn more about their personalities from how they played.

Aenwyn was obviously the best player out of the six girls. She moved almost silently through the water and barely made a sound. She also seemed to be the most honest. Never did she try to cheat by getting out of the pool and running around. Her voice was the quietest when she called back "Polo" in answer to Delaney.

Ever and Snow rarely separated from each other. In fact, the older girl seemed to be helping the younger blonde, and both of them seemed to be having the time of their lives. While Merry was a good swimmer, she preferred to stay with Snow by the wall, and often took the blow for the younger girl when the two were about to be caught.

Raleigh didn't seem to have made a strategy, or if she had, it was an extremely unique one. She was the one who was taunting Delaney the most, laughing and joking with her as her friend moved through the pool. She was the most enthusiastic about playing the game, and the most gracious when she lost.

Reagan kept to herself, but she was probably the girl who was caught the least. She did seem to be a cheater, however, though she was never called on being a fish out of water. Delaney and the other girls seemed to avoid her, as if there was some invisible force radiating off of her telling the girls not to touch her.

As Percy moved to watch Delaney, something mortifying happened. Her bathing suit, which had to be tied together to stay closed over her chest, suddenly started to open wider and wider. "Uh..." He spluttered, and all the six girls jumped, noticing him for the first time. He was too busy worrying about Delaney's suit. It was starting to get incredibly loose now, and looked as if it would fall off at any second. With the camera crews surrounding them, the Prince certainly didn't want to do that.

Raleigh noticed where he was looking at first, and the bright red complexion that had suddenly come across him. Glancing at Delaney, who was now retying her swimsuit, and then back at the Prince, she started to laugh.

"I wonder..." She mused, getting confused looks from the other girls who clearly didn't pick up on what was happening. "Did you happen to burn really badly in the sun on the way down here, or is Delaney's swim suit just too much for you?"

If it was possible to become a color redder than what he already had been, Percy became it. He prayed for God to strike him down where he stood, so that he didn't have to live in a world where that moment had happened. The other girls collapsed into fits of giggles. Aria, who had been standing on the edge of the pool waiting to jump in, actually fell into it she was laughing so hard.

 _Maybe the group date hadn't been such a good choice after all..._

 **I would have written more, but I have a college tour in the morning and it's already 11:00 P.M. Gotta go, but love you all!**

 **Don't forget to vote on the profile (whoever is the most popular will get featured more heavily in the second part of the date) and review!**

 **-Sora**


	16. Tides Are Turning

**Four in a row, someone give me an award! *takes award* Oh, oh thank you. I would like to thank my agent, and my friends, especially Amanda who wrote me into her story as a grandma (the BEST grandma) and Star, who... Well, she created Stidas and that made me happy for most of the day.**

 **Hahaha, as I write this (as I write A/Ns weirdly, before I write out the actual chapter), I'm just imagining the reviews... I can't post this until I get home with wifi, but I thought being in the car for four more hours would give me and excuse to write an extra long chapter. I was good, and I read 87 pages of the Scarlet Letter for school, and if I read another line of that, I'm going to die. It's actually not as bad as I thought though, once I got past the 40 page introduction called "The Custom-House". That was painful.**

 **But, as I was saying, these reviews are going to be hilarious and I totally am ready for the shock and surprise. I've had this planned out since the beginning, but, well, it's supposed to be unexpected.**

 **Also, I don't know if a lot of you read reviews, but if you do, I highly recommend you go to XOXOStarbright (Star's) Pintrest page, and ship her and Midas, as I'm making it cannon in this story. If anyone else wants to be shipped with a character, or be a rebel, or something, tell me and I'll try to work it in. Or, if it's not you, and you just have good ideas for new characters, tell me! I'm always looking for ideas. No promises that anything will happen, but certainly feel free to suggest things.**

 **Now, let's get back to the group date. I got a lot of reviews and votes on the poll last chapter, and it looks like the currently Delaney and Raleigh are leading. But, Reagan was also pretty popular, as was Aenywn but she already was focused on last chapter, so I spotlighted Reagan more.**

 **This chapter is going to be... Surprising. In a lot of ways. Hold onto your hats, everyone. But first, we'll finish the date.**

Delaney was not a person who liked to lose.

Looking back at it afterwards, she might have been a teeny bit too competitive for her own good when the eight girls and Percy had decided to play a game of water volley ball. She tended to be a little mean when she wanted to win, doing things that she regretted (albeit not very much) later. Usually, though, she was intense for a good purpose, which meant that it was okay, right?

So, she probably shouldn't have yelled at Merry for missing an easy pass.

But had they won? Yes, yes they had.

And that was all that mattered in the end, didn't it?

The Lady was actually extremely surprised they had won. Besides Callie, who was okay at the game, neither Merry nor Aenwyn were any good at the game. It rested mainly on her shoulders to bring home the victory, and throughout the game, she kept getting distracted with... Well, something that she had come here to stop being distracted by.

This was a competition to be the next Queen of Illéa. She, a Lady competing for Percy's hand, should not be getting distracted over how pretty Princess Callisa looked in her bathing suit.

 _Stop it_ , she chided herself. _Focus on the ball_. 

Luckily for her, the other team which consisted of Percy, Aria, Raleigh, and Reagan, were even worse. Snow had opted to sit the game out, since she was relatively new to the whole swimming thing. The youngest girl sat on the side with the Queen of Ireland, dipping her feet in the water and cheering whenever someone scored, no matter what team they were on.

The game had lasted for about an hour, with a few breaks here and there in that time period for team meetings. _At least they were all having fun_ , Delaney thought a little bitterly, as Merry and Aenwyn exchanged smiles after almost succeeding in hitting the ball over the net. They had been playing for about thirty minutes at this point, and so far only she and Raleigh had been able to .

This was not how sports back where Delaney came from were played.

An athlete all through her youth, Delaney had fueled her highly competitive spirit by excelling in sports like Marshall Arts and soccer. She was good at everything she did, and extremely proud of it. Naturally gifted in athletics, she didn't take kindly to girls that the most athletic thing they'd ever done was run to the a new store opening up at the mall.

Needless to say, the frills and froufrou of the Selection didn't really strike her fancy, which gave her even more motivation to push the dress code. Truthfully, she liked embarrassing the Prince. Even though she hadn't really felt any sort of spark with the Prince (and she honestly doubted she ever would), she still thought it was fun to make him blush. Almost as proud of her figure as she was of her athletic skills, she wasn't embarrassed about wearing clothing that she knew most of the girls considered "skimpy" or "slutty". In fact, it was almost like a game to her. The more people who looked at her, the better she was doing.

For Delaney, most of her life had been a competition. There had been few people who supported her, but she wasn't mad about that at all. All the hatred, all the bullies, they had only made her stronger. She only wished that she had seen the looks on their faces when she had been accepted to the Selection, and they hadn't.

Karma was great, wasn't it.

Percy gave a lame serve on the other side, which Delaney gracefully hit back at him. It hit him in the face, and she had to work hard to hold back a laugh. Aria, despite the fact that she was on Percy's team, didn't bother to be discreet about her mirth and loudly giggled. Her brother shot her a dirty look, and she just rolled her eyes. Callie, from the other side of the net, apparently couldn't chose whose reaction she thought was funnier, and decided to laugh at both of them.

Siblings...

Delaney knew full well what that was like. She was the youngest of five kids, with two older brothers and two older sisters who happened to be a set of quadruplets. Don't ask her how or why her mother had them and then decided to have another child, but Delaney definitely understood the dynamics between the Royal siblings. So far, from what she had seen, both Princesses seemed to get the "Delaney Silvyn-Ellis seal of approval." Aria was like a smaller version of herself, with just the same amount of sass. Callie was... Well, Callie was beautiful.

As she served the ball and won another point for her team, Delaney was all too aware of the fact that she might be falling in love with a Royal.

It just wasn't the right Royal.

/LINE BREAK/

If energy was somehow equal to skill, Raleigh could have played in the Olympics. The blonde was continuing to go strong, leaping just as high forty-five minutes into the game to spike the ball as she had done in the first round. Her smile was obvious, and Percy couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked in motion.

Though she wasn't nearly up to Delaney's level, who looked so intense as she slammed the ball over the net and scored again and again, Raleigh was certainly trying. She certainly was better than the Prince, who had probably hit the ball more times with his face than with his hands. She was honestly surprised his nose wasn't bleeding with the amount of times his face had taken damage.

Raleigh, who had been elected team captain for some strange reason, felt that they needed a pep talk. Signaling for a break, she beaconed her three fellow teammates to huddle around her. It wasn't until they were swimming towards her that she realized she had no idea how to give a pep talk.

Growing up, sports had never been her style. She considered herself to be more of a scholar, and had avoided any physical activity if she could. Her body was not built for athletics, and she certainly was not up to giving a speech.

Dear God, is this how she was going to feel if she became Queen and had to talk on the Report?

Trying to push thoughts of the future out of her head, Raleigh looked around at her three other teammates, Aria, Percy, and Reagan. She was sure that both Royals wouldn't mock her if she flubbed a word or two, but she wasn't sure about the brunette also competition in the Selection.

Deciding to be as cheesy as possible and wing it, Raleigh began.

"Friends, Romans, Countryman." She opened with a joke, that got an appreciative smile from the Prince that made her heart flutter in her chest. "We cannot win. The odds are stacked against us. But, we can give it are all. They have Delaney, and she is unstoppable. However, though we may not have skill, or talent, or any idea of how to play the game, we have something they do not. A secret weapon. And, of course, I am talking about the Prince's face."

Princess Aria burst out laughing at this, giving her brother a good natured clap on the back. Even Reagan smiled at this comment, making Raleigh a little more confident. She totally had this. Now, to stick the landing.

"Our only hope is that we keep fouling them when they hit Percy's face. If we can do that, we might have a chance of not losing the match 400 to 1. So, whose with me!"

All three of the people in front of her erupted into cheers, making everyone else in the pool jump. "So, let's go!" Raleigh yelled, swimming back to her position. The rest of her team did the same, and their enthusiasm was much higher than it had been a few minutes ago.

Unfortunately, it was useless. Despite the fact that Delaney was the only competent member of their team, they were being creamed. Apparently, being on the team with the crown Prince didn't automatically mean you got to win, which she considered a real shame.

They played for about another ten minutes before Raleigh through in the towel. "We surrender, we surrender!" She yelled, the others agreeing. Delaney smiled a little smugly, but fairly good-naturedly. The brunette was apparently someone who liked to win. Honestly, Raleigh considered her amazing pep talk she had thought up off the top of her head a victory, but she didn't voice that opinion. Better not too push her luck, that was for sure.

Two butlers worked together to fish the net out of the pool and collect the ball, so that the girls and Percy could swim freely. Too tired to play another game, Raleigh mostly floated on her back and attempted to make conversation with Princess Aria. Though the young girl wasn't unfriendly, she was certainly very guarded in her conversation. Granted, after what she'd been through losing her brother, Raleigh didn't blame her.

The two girls looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. A guard, a young, cute guard, she noticed, was approaching the pool. Giving a little bow, he stopped at the edge of the pool and addressed Princess Callisa and Queen Ciara.

"My ladies," His tone was polite and warm. "I'm sorry to steal you away from your swim party, but her majesty the Queen requests your presence inside the palace."

Callie's face fell slightly, but she tried her best to keep the smile on her face. "I guess I should see what Mother wants..." She seemed a little disappointed to go, and Raleigh noticed that Delaney also seemed upset about the Princess's early exit, though she quickly wiped any expression that might have betrayed her off her face. Callie lifted herself out of the pool using the wall, accepted the towel offered to her by one of the butlers, and gave a small wave as she left the pool house. Ciara went without much hesitation. She didn't seem all that unhappy about leaving. The guard that had come to get her also turned and, with one last bow to them, followed Callisa and Ciara very closely and the two of them soon disappeared from sight.

Just before they left, however, she noticed Snow catch the guards eye, and for the briefest second, something hardened in the girl's face and she gave the most infinitesimal nod of the head. The butler didn't acknowledge anything and continued walking with the two girls.

 _Huh_ , Raleigh thought. _Weird_. It must have been a trick of the light, or she had imagined it.

And, as Raleigh turned back to continue her conversation with the other Princess, she put the event out of mind.

/LINE BREAK/

After the volleyball game, Percy knew that he had to get more in shape. Despite the fact the girls had seemed to be impressed when he arrived shirtless (which pleased him far more than he was letting on), he was wiped after just less than an hour of playing their game. Granted, his face hurt more than his muscles did, as Delaney had basically used his beautiful features as a target.

But he had more pressing matters to deal with at this moment. So far, he had shared a few conversations with both Raleigh, Delaney, and Snow since he'd been there. Aenwyn seemed to be getting along amicably with Delaney, and he didn't want to interrupt. Merry seemed happy in her conversation with Snow as well, and he could see the two blondes, despite their age gap, were becoming fast friends.

The only girl who was alone that he had yet to speak to today was Reagan.

The brunette was floating on her back, a little ways away from the rest of the girls. She looked peaceful, and Percy had to admit, quite lovely. Her long hair floated around her and her blue-and-white stripped bikini matched her tanned skin perfectly. "Hello, Lady Reagan." She jumped a little at his voice, and he backed away slight, embarrassed to have startled her.

"Oh, hello, your majesty." Her tone wasn't exactly cold, but it was not as welcoming as any of the other girl's. It was intense and focused, as if she didn't like the fact it didn't like to engage in small talk.

"Uhh..." The Prince said awkwardly, not exactly knowing where to go next. Reagan was no help, as she didn't say a word. "So, Lady Reagan. I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to you much about your personal life. Why don't you tell me about your family. What are they like?"

Her cold, dark eyes met his in a gaze so intense he shuddered. Slowly, taking as much time as she wanted, she sat up. "You want to know about my family, do you?" She spoke slowly, deliberately, as if she was accusing him of saying something horrible. He was a little taken aback. Though she had been a little intense at their first meeting, it hadn't been anything like this. She looked at him as if he had already disappointed her, somehow.

Nodding, Percy tried to be brave and not show how intimidated her was, he clarified his point. "Yes. Do you have any brothers or sisters? What are your parents like? Do you miss them?"

"Fine. You really want to know?" Reagan's words tumbled out of her mouth, but she still remained very elegant in her manner of speaking. "I'm the middle child, at age 18, with an older brother and a younger sister. My father was killed in a car wreck when I was eight, when a semi truck plowed into him. My mother works two jobs trying support us, and my older brother got so upset that he had nowhere to go in life and no opportunities, he went and jumped in front of a train a year ago. At home, I work 15 hours a day and barely make minimum wage, and my sister's pay is worse. But here, all I have to do is sit and look pretty. You people have more money than you know what to do with. Do you understand how much money selling just one of these dresses would do for my family? Why don't you do something about the lower castes, instead of sit here dating you 25 girlfriends? So, forgive me if I don't fall over and kiss your feet, your majesty." She said his title extremely sarcastically, but her voice had no traces of humor in it. Just anger.

With a flip of her dark hair, she turned and dived under the water. The conversation was clearly over.

Which was good, because Percy didn't have any words to say.

/LINE BREAK/

Callie and Ciara didn't pay much attention to the path they were taking, as it was so familiar to them. Despite the fact the Ciara had her own palace in Ireland and didn't live in Illéa, she had spent so much time there in her youth that she knew it almost as well as the Royal children did. They made small talk as they walked, mostly wondering what exactly the Queen wanted. She was rarely interested in their lives, since she was rarely in good enough health to do so. More often than not, she was in one of her fits and locked up from the public and her family. Callie's father was always covering for her, but his children often wondered why he had put up with her for his life.

"So, Mother wants to see us?" Callie asked the guard, hoping for more information.

The guard looked back at them, his tousled brown hair and blue eyes making him incredibly handsome, and nodded. "Yes, your highness. But I was not told exactly what she wanted, miss. I am sorry." He did look sorry, and Ciara waved her hand.

"I'm sure it's fine, Cals. I wouldn't worry. Maybe you just need to keep an eye on Percy and how his Selection is going." Ciara reassured her friend.

Callie nodded, not entirely reassured, but not wanting to argue with Ciara. "Yes, probably." The two walked along in silence, the guard leading the way. In the back of her mind, the Princess thought it was a little strange that he hadn't just told her where the Queen wanted to see them. The palace was her home, and she knew it like the back of her hand.

He must be new, she thought, staring at the back of the young man in front of her.

Ciara must have had the same talk, as she started a conversation with the young man. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, of course!" The boy dipped his head politely in apology. "It's Midas, your majesties."

Ciara gave him a winning smile. The beautiful redhead was very good at this, and at making people feel comfortable in general. "That's a very unique name." Callie noticed that she didn't say she liked or disliked it. "Where's home, Midas?"

He didn't answer the question, but stopped at a door. It wasn't a room the Callie had ever been in, one of the smaller sitting rooms. "In here, your majesties."

"Here?" Ciara questioned, but Callie had already followed the guard into the room. One thing the Queen hated was to be kept waiting. Shrugging, the redhead followed.

The room was what they had thought it was, a small sitting room. It had a few scattered couches and arm chairs that had rarely been used. The setting itself was normal, with wallpaper covered in a flowers and a plush carpet. However, there was one particular detail about the room that didn't quite line up.

"Where's the Queen?" Ciara asked, turning to look at Midas, but she found that he was nowhere to be seen. "Uh?" She turned around in a circle, trying to find him. "Midas?"

She looked at Callie, who was doing the same thing. "He walked into the room ahead of us, didn't he?" She wondered, completely perplexed at this point. "I saw him..."

As the girls looked at each other, the door slammed behind them. There was the click of a lock before both of them whirled around. "What-" Callie started to ask, but she was grabbed from behind roughly. Midas held her waist tightly as she squirmed, trying to get loose. Another man who had appeared from behind the door had grabbed Ciara the same way. The redhead screamed and tried to kick, but to no avail. The Illéan prince bit down on the hand Midas hand over her mouth, and he yelped, but did not let go.

"Now, now, girls. Let's not do anything rash." An older man strolled out from behind the other door, a young girl that looked like his daughter trailing behind. Seriously, how many people could these doors house? "You are ladies after all. No need for biting." Despite the fact that he was at least 20 years Callie's senior, he strolled over and pressed himself close to her. With Midas still holding her waist and this man in front of her, she was unable to see Ciara. The sounds of struggle had abruptly stopped, which was not a good sign.

The man in front of her reached out and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. She glared at him, but with a hand around her waist and one over her mouth, she was powerless to do anything. "Pretty, aren't you, Princess?"

If looks could kill, he would be a dead man. Unfortunately, he just laughed. It was a cold, merciless sound. An evil sound.

With one last smile, he thrust a small cloth in her face. She was vaguely aware of hoping that Ciara had somehow managed to escape, before she collapsed.

"'Night, 'night, Princess."

 **Ahhh, I'm hoping that was kind of a surprise. That was what I was going for, at least. As I'm writing this, I've spent three hours on it since I've had nothing else to do in the car. Of course, since I can't post this until I get home and to wifi, it will be mute, but I hope the time I spent on it was worth it.**

 **I hope the next chapter will be out tomorrow, just to keep my streak alive, but keep in mind that it won't be a very girl's heavy chapter. I know this doesn't have to do with the Selection, but it's adding in a lot of elements that will be needed later. Trust me on this one.**

 **I knew something like this was coming since Chapter One, but I got a review saying that they loved the fact that the rebels were terrible at being rebels, and I wanted to make a point that these are not people to take lightly...**

 **Remember to review! You can also still vote on my poll, if you haven't.**

 **Love you all!**

 **-Sora**


	17. Ghost

**There are way too many feelings in this chapter, I just can't. I was crying writing this, to be honest, because it's just so gosh darn sad. This is honestly what I consider one of the saddest chapters in the story at least at this point, but probably as a whole. So, I guess the good news is: Congratulations! Things have reached a whole new low.**

 **That sounded so sarcastic in my head, so whoops.**

 **This chapter is really short, because it didn't work with what the next update is going to be and also, I wanted to keep my streak alive. Personally, I would rather give shorter updates more frequently. I was planning to write more, but I'm so tired after not getting home until 2:00 A.M. last night.**

 **Thank goodness the fanfic review system is working again so I can actually read reviews. It was down for like two days and it was so annoying.**

 **I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to keep up this daily updating thing, and after this chapter, I might have to be taking a slight break just because I have to work on homework that's due when I start school. I already have my schedule and ack, this year is going to be rough! 3 AP classes, honor's pre-calc, Spanish III, and advanced show choir.**

 **I'm probably going to die... So I'll update as much as I can before that happens.**

When she saw the boy standing in front of her, Ciara knew she was dead.

But, if she was dead, why could she feel so much pain?

Her head was pounding and her vision was foggy, even though technically her eyes were open. The room, or cell she guessed, she was in was too dark to be able to see anything properly. She had only woken up about a minute ago, with her head feeling like it was going to split open and all her muscles sore. Heart beating faster than it ever had before, Ciara tried to understand what was happening and where she was.

Her feet were bare, her shoes must have been taken from her by one of the men who grabbed her. Her gown was dirty and not nearly warm enough. Her stomach rumbled in hunger, but at the same time she felt nauseous... Though truthfully she had been sick to her stomach for a few weeks. Morning sickness was a common occurrence in pregnancy. She was tied to the wall, wrists bound with thick ropes so that she couldn't move more than a foot or two in any direction. All this was bad enough, made her scared enough.

And then the ghost appeared.

His hair was the same as it always had been, brown and sticking up at different angles. Eyes the color of warm chocolate, framed by black glasses that were just slightly lopsided. The easy smile he wore on his face, the way it set her heart a flutter even in a place like this. The apparition had no chains or ropes binding him, and yet he stood in the cell with her, as if unable to approach her.

"Alex..." She breathed, her voice catching in her throat. "Alex!" Her voice was a cry, and she strained with all her might, pulling against that bound her to the wall so desperately that her wrists started to bleed. All she wanted to do was to get to him, to have him hold her in his arms once again. Then, she knew, everything would be okay.

His warm, brown eyes looked as kindly as they had when he was alive, but he made no effort to move towards her. "Ciara." The ghost spoke, and his voice was Alex's. Tears streamed down the redhead's face and she kicked and pulled, but it was no use. "Ciara!" The ghost neared her, and he looked real. He looked so real.

"Alex, Alex!" She sobbed harder now, but her energy had been warn out trying to reach him. Her moans were horrible, the cries of someone who knew the worst of heartbreak. "Alex, please. Tell me you're real, tell me."

His smile was a little sadder, and his expressions had the exact same studious, intense look that he had worn so often when things confused him. "You know I can't, Ciara. You know this is all in your head." He moved forward and moved a hand through her hand, which stayed in place. He was only a spirit, unable to interfere with the world of the living.

He wasn't real.

Ciara whimpered, Alex's death hitting her full force again. "I can't..." She whispered. "I can't... I can't go on without you. You." Her tone had switched from one of sadness to anger. "You! You left me with an unborn child, one that will grow up with no farther. You left me when I needed you most. You... I... Can't do this by myself." Her hands were bound, but she wanted to curl them over her waist.

The ghost's expression, that sad smile, didn't change and for some reason that made it worse. She wanted to scream, wanted to shout and rip him to pieces for abandoning her. For being so selfish. Now their unborn child would grow up in a home without a father. She wanted to tell him so many things, things that she had been thinking for weeks.

Her voice died in her throat. All her anger died and the fire went out of her. More than anything, she wanted him back. She was so mad at him, so mad. He'd left her.

But she would give anything to be in his arms one more time. To hold his hand, to hug him, to kiss him. Heck, she'd give her kingdom just to touch him one more time, to feel his solidness, and feel... Whole.

She doubted she would ever feel whole again.

"Are you finished yet?" Alex asked, his voice not angry, but more teasing. The ghost watched as his wife tried to wipe her eyes, but was unable to with her hands bound. Her sobs had subdued, slightly, into dry tears with the occasional sniffle. Her green eyes were watery, and more threatened to spill over each time she blinked.

Ciara nodded, however. In the back of her mind, she knew that no one was there to nod to. But he seemed so real, in front of her. It was almost as if he was there, about to rescue her from the rebels.

His expression didn't change. "Good. Now, tell me." Alex had always been direct with everything he talked about. "Why are you yelling at me?"

What kind of a question was that? She had just yelled at him the exact answer he was looking for. "You left me!" She hurled the words at him as if the sheer sharpness of them could hurt him. "Isn't that reason enough to be mad at you?"

"You aren't mad at me, Ciara." The apparition spoke easily, but his words were firm. Not open for discussion.

The redhead gaped at him, not even able to process the words he was saying. Of course she was mad at him. She was furious! He'd left her... And... And... She hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye. It was only because she was bound that she didn't rip him to pieces, or give him a piece of her mind like she had done to Percy to spur the elimination. If her hands were free, Ciara would have beaten him for abandoning her and their child. How could he, how could he, how could...?

"You aren't mad at me. That's not why you're imagining me. You're mad at yourself." Alex told her, his voice still displaying very little emotion. "You blame me for leaving, for abandoning you, but deep down inside, it's not me that you're mad at. It's you. You blame yourself, Ciara, for my death. You think that you should have noticed, should have seen the signs."

"You think that if you had just said 'I love you' one more time, I wouldn't have taken my life."

The words had so much weight behind them, and they spoke nothing but the truth. Breaking down again, Ciara tried to clear her head. Shaking it again and again, she tried to forget what the ghost had told her, to push aside the guilt she had been feeling since she'd heard the horrible news. That it was her fault that Alex was gone.

"...No..." She whimpered, weakly, closing her eyes so that she couldn't see the man standing in front of her any longer. "No! You're lying! It... It wasn't me... I... I couldn't have, I wouldn't have..." Her excuses were useless. No use trying to hide the truth.

Because this was all happening inside her head. Alex was just a figment of her imagination, brought on by grief and drugging.

Opening her eyes, she saw the same, sad smile the ghost wore. She didn't understand. If it had been her fault for not noticing, why wasn't he mad at her? Why didn't he accuse her of murdering him, of standing by and kindly watching him fall into depression?

Why did he just look at her and give her that sad smile?

"Go away!" She screamed, unable to take it any longer. "Go away and leave me to suffer alone. You're not real, you're not real... You're just in my head." The last part became something of a chant and she closed her eyes so tightly it hurt.

When she opened them again, Alex was gone. There was no sign that he had ever been there at all.

And God, she cried harder at that. Not because he was was gone.

But because he had never been there in the first place.

 **I told you it was short, but this chapter didn't fit in at all with the next POV I have planned. I figured I'd just post it now. Sorry about that, though, and sorry it was so depressing. I cried writing it, if it helps. I don't know why it would, but... Yeah.**

 **Love you all!**

 **-Sora**


	18. Piece by Piece

**And my streak ended sadly at 5 days in a row. This wasn't too bad of a wait, though, time wise. Was it mean to leave it with that chapter? Yes, yes it was. In my defense, I had two parties, a bridal shower, and family spending the night with us. So I honestly didn't have any time to write. I did want to update soon, but I was just so busy. I wouldn't expect another update tomorrow, either, because I still have a ton of homework and that's the day I'm going to try to get it mostly done. Whether that plan will work or not, I can't say.**

 **This entire chapter is painful to write, and basically one giant trigger warning. It's extremely difficult for me to write, but it's also one of the more realistic things I've written in Percy's and the Royals' cycle of grief so far. With more pain comes relapses, even though Percy had been making tons of progress. It had to happen, it just ended up happening like this.**

 **So, basically, this whole chapter is a trigger warning. It's painful and scary, but I tried to be as realistic as possible. However, if you don't want to read it because it does more than just mention suicide, mental health, drinking, and more issues than the rest of the book so far. I would be happy to summarize the chapter for anyone who would rather not read the details. PM me, if that's the case.**

 **So there's my little disclaimer. I guess now it's time to get down to business and actually give you the chapter.**

 **Oh, and for those confused, Ciara is NOT dead. Her seeing Alex was a hallucination caused by shock, grief, and left over effects of the chloroform, which to answer Amanda's really good question, does not affect pregnant women any more than it would do to a normal woman, unless she was in labor which Ciara was not.**

 **Onwards to the chapter!**

"The moments when it's just too deep, when it feels easier to just swim down. Then to learn to live with the unimaginable."

The roof of the palace seemed like just as good as any to end it all.

One jump and it would be all over. All his suffering, all his pain. Percy would finally be at peace. And that was all he wanted.

The world was cruel, and kicked and lashed at the Prince one time too many. It had been two hours since the horrifying realization had been made public. Three since the Royals themselves, as well as the girls in the Selection, had discovered the fact that Ciara and Callie had not been seen since the guard at the swimming pool had informed them that the Queen was in need of their service. Queen Amanda had already informed the reporters that she had not asked to see either her daughter nor the Queen of Ireland.

The two had been pronounced missing only a half hour later.

The wind blew softly, a gentle breeze, and the day was still quite warm. It didn't fit at all, the Prince thought as he stared down. From the fourth floor roof, the palace gardens below looked miniature. There was no one walking in the gardens today. He supposed that everyone was still inside, sobbing and panicking over where his sister and his best friend had been taken.

He knew that he should be doing the same. But, instead, he just felt... Empty. Like there was nothing left of him but a shell. He had no more feeling, he was simply numb.

This was it. The last time.

Percy couldn't handle it anymore. Life was too hard. It came with too much pain and grief and lost love. He was tired. He was so, so tired. It was becoming to hard to go on. Without his sister and Ciara by his side... the Prince wasn't sure that he could continue. Maybe this was a sign, for him.

One jump, and he would finally be able to rest.

One jump to end it all.

Just three more steps, and he'd be at the edge. Three more steps and one jump. It was so easy, it was almost funny.

His brother had ended his life with a gunshot, but Percy thought it would be much easier to step off the roof and end it all. Alex had always been the smarter of the two, however. Perhaps that, when he saw him again, Percy could ask if he'd felt the bullet. Or if at that point, he'd simply been too numb.

Two more steps.

The Prince didn't see his life flashing through his eyes like he was expecting as he walked closer to the edge, and for that he was grateful. It was too hard to remember his childhood, which had been full of happiness with his twin, his sister, and Ciara. And as he thought this, the memories wormed their way into his brain.

Young Alex and Percy playing catch on the palace grounds with their father. Percy was better than his twin, but both of them smiled anyway. The Prince remembered deliberately throwing easier pitches to his brother, not wanting him to feel sad when he dropped it. If it had been reversed, he knew that Alex would have done the same thing.

The two boys waiting outside, both about three years old, waiting outside the door to their parent's room. They are straining to hear inside, ears pressed against the door. It's quiet, and then a baby's cry breaks the silence. The brothers look at each other and smile, because their little sister can sure scream.

The little, redheaded Princess that stood in front of the two boys and talked with a weird accent could run faster than both of them. At seven, Ciara's curls flew widely around in the wind, as she dared the Princes to race her again. Neither wanted to. It had been embarrassing enough to lose to a girl once. From the sidelines, Callie laughed and laughed.

At fifteen, Percy started to take an interest in girls. Not Ciara, though, even though she had grown into quite a pretty girl. She was two and a half years young, and that meant not as mature. Despite the fact that she could still beat him in a race, the two had become fast friends. Alex and Callie spent time with her as well, and the four of them were inseparable. Even though at this point, Aiden was six and Aria ten, it was still just the four of them. Together. Forever.

Forever wasn't nearly long enough. And now Percy was the last one left.

Not for long, he thought. He was coming. He wanted to be numb. He wanted so, so desperately to sleep. To have peace.

One more step.

A year after that, Courtney had been born. The last one, the King had said with a laugh, holding up the smiling bundle of joy that contained the youngest Princess. At sixteen, Percy considered himself to be all grown up and a man of the world. He held the baby and didn't think he had ever seen anything as beautifully innocent. Alex had laughed at how much time he'd spent with his youngest sibling, but his twin hadn't known why he did. Honestly, Percy didn't know himself. Perhaps he was finally old enough to appreciate a younger sibling. Perhaps he was trying to ease the guilt he felt after not paying much attention at all to Aria or Aiden. Maybe he was jealous at how close his twin was to Aria, and wanted to share that same bond with Courtney.

One more step. Just one before the plunge.

Angels can fly, he tried to assure himself. The Prince wasn't sure why his heart pounded so much, despite the fact that he was choosing to end it all. Did it know that it was running out of time? Was it trying to cram a lifetime's worth of beats into just a few minutes?

One more step.

"I'm coming, Alex." He whispered. "I'm coming."

Why did his feet suddenly feel so heavy? This was what he wanted, wasn't it?

Life was far too hard to keep trying. The hurt he felt inside was unbearable. His whole self ached. The Prince was sure that if he was to step back, away from the edge, he would die of the heart ache anyway.

Numb. He wanted so much to be numb. Percy would throw it all away to be numb.

One more step. He lifted his shoe and prepared to take the last leap. He was almost to the edge, and then all Percy would have to do was jump. It was so close to being over.

And then, suddenly a voice spoke. A hand on his shoulder. It was soft and delicate, and the voice was feminine. One he'd heard before. Percy didn't want to turn around, didn't want to face anyone. He was a coward. But he so badly wanted it to end.

"Percy?" The voice asked, worry and fear mixed with sympathy. "Percy, please. Just look at me." The girl's voice cracked a bit, but the Prince could tell that she was fighting to keep it together. She was stronger than he was. Slowly, inch by inch, Percy turned around to see the girl that stood behind him. Her blond hair was gathered at one side, in a ponytail. Her blue eyes were widened in concern, but did not water. Her posture and stature was calm, collected, but she also radiated warmth. In one of her hands, she carried a small, blue mug with steam rising from the top.

It was Carlyn. The girl he'd passed out in front of on the first day. The girl who had forgiven him so easily, so readily in the interview. She seemed to show up at the worst times.

Now that she had gotten his attention, Carlyn seemed embarrassed and out of things to say. Awkwardly, she held out the blue mug to him, as if not realizing how close to jumping he had just been. Or, not wanting to discuss that part. "Here..." She said, shyly. "It's tea with milk and honey... I just thought, maybe it would help or something." Her eyes met his and she flushed scarlet. "Sorry," she quickly apologized. "It was stupid, I know."

"No." The Prince told her, taking the mug. "Thank you." He hoped by taking it, he could get the girl to leave. Not that he didn't like her presence, but because it hurt too much to be so close to numbness and stand here, on the roof.

Instead, Carlyn did one of the strangest things that the Prince had ever seen. Tucking the skirt of her dress under her as she did, the blonde lowered herself onto the ground until she was sitting on the edge of the roof, where Percy had been about to jump. Her legs and the fabric of her skirt flowed over the edge. It was a very long way down, but the girl did not seemed perturbed. In fact, she looked quite contented with the situation. Percy wasn't sure what Carlyn was doing, until he realized that she had positioned herself directly in front of where he had been about to jump just a minute before hand.

It wasn't if it was all that effective. The roof still stretched on either side of her for hundreds of yards, and there was an endless area for him to jump from. But, she still sat in front of him.

She had not told him not to jump, and yet, her message was clear. She had not said anything to convince him why he shouldn't take the leap. All she had done was handed him a mug of tea and sat down. And yet...

Without a word, Percy took a small sip of the tea. The herbal, sweet flavor filled his mouth, soothing him slightly. Not knowing why, he sat down next to the girl, letting his legs dangle over the edge too. It was a very long fall, and his heart beat faster because Carlyn was sitting with him, only inches away from falling. If she slipped, he would never forgive himself. Setting his mug down, he took her arm and pulled her backwards, away from the edge. Now both of them were safe, in no danger of plunging to their deaths.

The smallest hint of a smile on Carlyn's face made Percy realize that her plan had worked perfectly. They were both away from the edge.

There were a few more minutes of silence before the Lady decided to break it. Her voice was still etched with worry, but it didn't break. "I won't stop you again, you know."

Percy's eyebrow raised as he looked at her, confused. "Stop me?" He asked, although he had understood her the first time. It was the words that just didn't add up with what she had just done.

"From jumping. I can't stop you, as much as I would like to. As much as I'd like to cry and pull you farther away from the edge, to beg you not to do this, I won't. This is your decision to make, and yours alone. So, if you chose this, you have my word that I will not stand in your way." Stunned, Percy didn't speak and Carlyn continued. "I wish I could tell you that everything was going to be okay. You have no idea how much I wish I could tell you that. And though I will never understand the pain you feel, I do understand more than you'd think. I know what it's like to be left behind. The ache to be wanted, to see them again. I know that feeling, too."

"It's hard, I know. Life sometimes makes you feel so lonely, like everyone's abandoned you. There's so much pain, it feels like you'll just break to pieces if you keep going. And all you want is to be numb, to make everything go away. To find peace."

The Prince was speechless. It was as if she had looked into his brain and read his thoughts. "How-" he started, but was unable to string a sentence together. The girl in front of him, whose big, blue eyes shone with so much kindness, seemed to know exactly what was happening to him.

And though he tried to hold them in, he felt tears filling his eyes. He pressed his hands to his face, trying to cover it. This was why he wanted to be numb. Percy was so, so sick of crying. It didn't get him anywhere. It felt like his tears were drowning him. The more he cried, the deeper he sank.

Was it even possible to keep going? At this point, he didn't know if it was possible to put him back together again, he had been torn into so many pieces.

"My sister..." He started. "Ciara." His voice was weak and tears leaked out from his hands, much as he tried to wipe them away. "It's just... It's too hard to go on. I've lost so many people I love. No matter how much I try to push forward, life keeps shoving me back."

Carlyn nodded, understandingly, and listened patiently as he continued. "It seems so much easier to just end it now. Imagine the pain I could avoid if I simply leapt. I can't..." His voice cracked. "I can't lose anyone else. It's too hard, too hard to love."

The girl smiled sadly at him. "It does seem easy, doesn't it? To plunge into the unknown and finally become numb. And I can't sit here and make false promises, so I won't. I can't say it will get better, or that things will be okay. I just don't know. I wish I did. I want so much to tell you that things will be alright. But I can't lie to you. I don't know if things will ever get better. But, I know they won't if you took that leap. Life will find ways to knock you down, or beat you up. It's never easy. Ever."

"But..." She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, just for a brief moment. "But I chose to believe in the best. Maybe it's a stupid thing, a false sense of security I'm lulling myself into. But... Sometimes, I feel like you can only fall so far. There's only one way to go from here, whether it happens to tomorrow or in years. Eventually, you have to go up."

"Up..." Percy mumbled, "But..." His eyes shone with tears. "What if I keep falling? What I lose someone else?"

There was a sad smile on her lips, one that he couldn't even describe. "There is always the chance you'll fall. In fact, I'm sure you will fall again, before your time is up. But what about all the times when you fly?"

"I could sure use more of those." He said, his tone hard. His tears had stopped, but the pain in his heart was still too heavy for words to describe. "I just... I feel so weighted down. Like it's impossible for me to keep going, or I'll drown. The more I try, the farther I sink into the waves. I just, it's too heavy to carry with me, all the time."

She stood up then, and offered him a hand. A delicate, feminine hand with with long fingers and soft skin. "Then let me help carry some of the burden."

The roof.

The girl.

One step to end it all.

One step to the hand that reached out to him. She wasn't begging for him to come inside. Instead, Carlyn stood very patiently and waited for him to choose. It was like she had told him. She would not stop him, either decision that he chose to make.

One choice. Two options.

Did he want to be numb? Or did he want to be put back together?

And slowly, painfully, with his heart aching with the slightest movement, Percy pushed himself to his feet and grabbed the safety line that had been offered to him.

He was still not sure he could handle the pain that life was going to through at him. The Prince was still aware of how weak he was, how reliant he was on the people he loved.

But as he took Carlyn's hand in his and the two of them walked away from the edge of the roof, Percy felt the weight in his heart lighten just a little as she helped him carry the pain.

 **Well, that was a downer of a chapter, but things are going to get better. I promise.**

 **Before I close this, I feel that I need to say something. This story deals with a lot of mental health issues, mostly regarding depression and suicide. I'm not nearly qualified to stand here and tell you that your life is great or to be happy or to be comfortable. As I write this story, I have not dealt with a ton of these issues personally, but I am doing the best I can to pour my emotions and the research I have done into this story. But, to all my readers that might be dealing with some of these problems, I am hear for you if you need to talk. I will never turn you away, I promise you! I may not know as much as some people, but I am always ready to listen if you need a friend, or I will be a shoulder to lean on. Please, please come if you need it.**

 **You are all beautiful and I love each and every one of you. You are special, unique, talented, brave, wonderful, and incredible. Each and every person is a miracle.**

 **I felt like I needed to say that. I'm sorry if it's not enough...**

 **-Sora**


	19. Anyone Else

**Don't get used to a streak thing, as I just got inspiration. That doesn't happen all that often, haha! But, I had time between reading more of the Scarlet Letter and organizing my bookshelf in a rainbow order (I'm just a little OCD) to work on this update.**

 **I'm really glad you liked the last update! I was a little worried that I might have offended some people, but most of you seemed to really like it, even if it made you sad. That's good, since that was what I was going for!**

 **This chapter isn't nearly as heartbreaking, and introduces two new characters. Because I can. I know, I know, you're all worried sick about Callie and Ciara, and I promise next chapter we'll see them again. But, that's probably gonna be another kinda sad chapter, and we needed a little more comic-relief kind of tension. So, here we are.**

 **I'm have it in a draft of one of the chapters that this character was briefly mentioned (not by name or anything), but I don't remember if I wrote it into an actual chapter or not... So this could be kind of a surprise, and I apologize.**

 **Aren't you all excited not to cry at something I wrote? I know I was excited writing it.**

 **Also, if anyone reads Ruby Casablanca's story "To Build a Home" and wants to fangirl with me over the newest chapter (46) and how adorable that was, let me know because AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Ahhh... I really want to be Ruby haha. She's so good at writing and like, life.**

 **Anyway, let's just start this chapter. It's not very long, but I started it at 10:00 PM and figured I'd write something to get it out. Next chapter will be long, since it's Chapter 20! Yay!**

The wind had picked up, cooling off the palace grounds. It was beginning to feel much more like fall than it had just a day and a half ago. Percy was grateful for the weather change as he stood on the cement driveway in the front of the palace, waiting for his least favorite person on Earth.

 _Him._

Just thinking about the person made his hands curl into fists at his sides. Control yourself, he thought bitterly. It wasn't as if he could do anything about the visit. It was to be expected, of course, after the tragedy that had happened only the day before. Despite the fact that Percy could have cared less about Declan's feelings about what had happened, it wouldn't have been right to keep him away from the palace.

After all, he would be "grieving" over his loss as well.

Trying to distract himself, he looked to his left and gave a small smile in the direction of Lady Viviann Anderson. Though the Prince hadn't spent a ton of time with the girl, he knew that she would be a good choice to have with him when he met Declan's limo and greeted him. Out of all the Selected, she seemed to have the most level-head on her shoulders, and she remained calm when he had asked her, despite it being only about a week into the Selection. This was a big task, being asked to greet visiting royalty, but with her long, purple gown rustling softly in the wind, Percy knew that Viviann would take the challenge in stride.

His other choice, the lady on his right, was a tad more... eccentric. Lady Monroe certainly looked stunning, with her long, dark hair pulled back into an elegant twist. Her maids had done an incredible job of making her look like a Princess, in a sky blue evening gown with a white trim at the bottom. As he looked at her, the Lady caught his eye and winked at him. Percy chuckled slightly, something he hadn't done since his sister's kidnapping. Just being around Monroe seemed to give him more energy, which was something he would need for sure.

There was the sound of gravel being crushed under tires and Percy saw a sleek, black limo barreling down the driveway.

"Oh yay... He's here." Percy mumbled under his breath, eyes rolling very obviously. He was thankful that no camera crews were allowed anywhere near the greeting. In order to keep the Royal's entrance more private, his father had banned the press from the palace until the scandal of the kidnappings had died down or more news was found.

So far, they had no clues as to where Callie and Ciara had been taken, or even who had them. This was a situation that the statement "No news is good news" definitely did not apply to. Percy just wished that they had a lead... Anything was better than the waiting game. It was impossible for him to sleep, eat, or even truly breathe when he knew that somewhere, someone was holding his sister and his best friend for ransom.

More than anything, however, he wished that the limo had anyone else except the young man that was climbing out of it in front of him.

At several years younger than the Crown Prince of Illéa, the boy was already a few inches taller than him. His dark hair was neatly gelled, looking much nicer than Percy's probably did at the moment. His entire appearance was Princely, but something about his easy smile was fake. The way his eyes narrowed when they found Percy's was not a promising sign.

Apparently, the years apart had not been enough to put differences aside.

"Declan." Percy said, a little sullenly, as the younger man got out of the limo. He paused, holding out his hand for the young woman with him. She was also a brunette, and a very pretty one. Her dress was short, a lilac day dress. The girl linked arms with the Prince as the two of them walked up to the Illéan palace.

Eyes still displaying malice despite his friendly tone, Declan spoke as he approached. "Ah, your majesty!" His voice dripped with false flattery. "I am so sorry, for your loss."

"Callie is not dead." Percy spoke through gritted teeth, barely able to restrain himself from strangling the boy in front of him. He was technically family... Percy suddenly realized, with a horrible shock. Oh God...

Waving his hand far too lightly for someone who should have been in a state of grief, Declan continued. "No, no. Your brother. I am slightly late with my condolences. My sister, she came as soon as she knew. Unfortunately, I had... Work to do in Ireland."

Sure you did, Percy scoffed inside his head, wondering how the drowned rat in front of him could possibly be related to Ciara. His sister was so much kinder, gentler, all together better than this boy that stood in front of him was. He didn't even seemed remotely upset by his sister's disappearance. Percy knew that the two siblings had never been close, despite the age range of only a year. After their parents' death, there had been some kind of a schism that Ciara had never liked to discuss.

In all honesty, Percy had been grateful for whatever had been said during that fight. Then he didn't have to appear as if he liked Declan to avoid offending his best friend.

"I'm sure you did." The Prince's tone was ice as he replied to the Irish Prince, who was too busy flirting with his girlfriend to notice.

"Oh, but where are my manners?" His voice softened as he presented the Lady next to him. "This is Miss Lily Rosewood, of Ireland." The brunette gave a small smile and a curtesy. Percy thought she looked far too pretty and too nice to be standing next to her asshole of a boyfriend, but perhaps he had a soft spot for her.

Politely, Percy gave a little bow to the Lady, who immediately blushed scarlet. Moving on to introducing his Selected, Percy beaconed for Viviann to take a step closer. "This is Lady Vivian Anderson, from Labrador." Viviann preformed a perfect curtesy and gave Declan a dazzling smile as she did so. The Illéan Prince's heart swelled at how well she tackled each challenge, even jerks like Declan.

"And," he brought Monroe forward as well, praying that she would shine just as brightly. He liked her energy level, but he was hoping that she wouldn't do anything too rash. "This is Lady Monroe Zaley, of Denbeigh."

Apparently not picking up on how icy things were between Declan and Percy, Monroe gave a low curtesy. "It's an honor, your Majesty!" Her Southern drawl made the simple sentence seem far more homey and kind. As if by magic, the atmosphere seemed to warm a few degrees. "I've heard so much about you, in fan magazines and things. Everyone thinks you're just the bees-knees!" The girl gushed so innocently, it was impossible for even Declan not to be flattered.

"Oh!" He seemed a little caught off guard by the affection, but pleasantly so. Percy knew for a fact that he was a person who loved being doted on. "Well, thank you, m'lady."

Percy started to try and direct everyone into the palace, eager to get away from Ciara's brother and be alone, but it was Viviann's turn to pipe up. Thank goodness for the fact his girl's knew how to break the ice far more than he did. "Did you have a smooth flight?" She directed her question to both the Prince and his companion, Lily, as if not wanting to leave her out of the conversation. Once again, Percy was impressed. Her form had said that she was an actress, but he felt that she was much more well suited for a career in politics.

The party started to climb the stairs as Lily answered the question for the both of them. "Oh, yes." Her voice was soft and earnestly sweet. "It was very pleasant."

"Of course," Declan just had to jump in and ruin a pleasant conversation. "We wouldn't have needed to come here if my sister hadn't been taken, due to your lack of security measures." His tone continued to be light and pleasant, but his words were all but. Though Percy had been thinking the exact same thing, and beating himself up for his sister and Ciara's kidnapping since the incident, that didn't mean the this pompous Prince was allowed to say anything.

He started to open his mouth, but a gentle hand on his arm from Viviann stopped him. Her soft eyes met his and she shook her head in a barely detectable, but crystal clear gesture. No...

Monroe, obviously wanting to change the subject, started to discuss Ireland and the weather there as the 5 Royals and Ladies climbed the stairs.

 _Oh, this is going to be a very long day_... Percy though.

 **I know, I know, it's short. In my defense, I didn't really know what else to say. Plus, it was easier to end it there and then post it than struggle and fail to write more. It's already late...**

 **Also, 4Love4Love4 and morethanjustastory told me it was okay it was short, when they were begging me to post it. So, I'm holding them to that.**

 **Love you all!**

 **-Sora**


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